Footsteps
by SessRinFan
Summary: With Rin by his side, Sesshomaru unknowingly walks in his father's footsteps while facing an old enemy. Meanwhile, the mischievous Kagome engages him in a battle of pranks resulting in some dire consequences. Setting - post canon.
1. Watching Over Rin

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha. Inuyasha belongs to the wonderful Rumiko-sama. I am only writing fanfic about them because I love them so much. Thank you.

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Watching Over Rin**

It was the night of new moon.

Little brother would turn human, turning worthless.

The gang had no shortage of enemies, some, perhaps, deadly. One seeking revenge was a matter of time, the time of the new moon if the ones seeking revenge were of any intelligence.

At the stroke of midnight, on Inuyasha's roof, Sesshomaru landed.

There he stood; his arms folded on his chest, long sleeves forming a white curtain draping downwards, an unwavering cascade as expressionless as the cold veneer on his face, a still mask crafted by hundreds of years of internal solitude.

His golden eyes darkened into a deep amber, moving from left to right, then right to left, unrest.

Nearby, a bush rustled. Sesshomaru's eyes flickered as his gaze shot to its direction - just a small animal scurrying in the dark, restless under the moonless sky.

The gang had their houses built next to each other's in a line, sharing one big front and backyard. Inuyasha's and Miroku's were at the the two ends, placing Kaede's in the middle where Rin lived.

From where Sesshomaru stood, anything lurking nearby Rin's window was in his direct line of sight, within the scope of his instant attack.

Some time past midnight, Rin leaned her head out the window. Her elbows rested on the window sill. Fiddling with a necklace in her hand, she looked up, her gaze wandering across the dark sky, a distant gaze.

That girl, the cheerful chirping of her voice, the way she spoke his name "Sesshomaru-sama", was a sword being forged, a warm blade still red in the welder's hand, edging against his icy wall which, at the touch, sizzled into steam, vanishing gradually - defenseless by him.

All those nights during their travel, the cheerful sparkles in her eyes, freely quivering by the reflection of starlight, shined into his gaze as she lay curling in his lap. She had reached up, her playful fingers peeling at his frigid mask, layer by layer - unstoppable by him.

At her innocent smiles, he had stared, dumbfounded, all his war strategies slipped, running away from a battle he had lost. The cold exterior perfected by him had slowly crumbled by an irreversible process, right before his heart.

He had stopped trying to find an answer for her. He left her with Kaede to hide himself away, to put Rin into oblivion. But the more he hid, the more often he came back.

Sesshomaru took a step forward.

Being by Rin's side, at midnight, away from the nosy eyes of the gang, would make the boring watch desirable, in reminiscence of his time, alone, with her.

He crouched down, preparing to jump to Rin's window when suddenly a deer from nowhere ran into Rin's hand, beating Sesshomaru to it.

The animal, carrying Rin's necklace on its antlers, kept on running.

Rin clambered out the window. She fell down, her legs flailing, her hands fighting the ground to get up. When she had finally got on her feet and reached the end of Inuyasha's, the animal had disappeared into the woods nearby.

Rin stopped, grimacing. With her hands making two not so resolute fists, she whispered to herself while shaking her head.

Immediately, Sesshomaru transformed into a white ball, chasing after the animal. Targeting its antler, he swooshed down, reclaimed the necklace and returned to his human form as he landed on the forest floor.

It was just a small trinket, an blue onyx pendant resembling the crescent moon. He stared at it momentarily before he closed his hand and headed back.

When he reached the edge of the woods, he halted. Inuyasha, Rin and Kohaku were standing in front of Kaede's place.

"Keh! Let's get inside," Inuyasha chastised Rin with a grumpy voice.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha-sama." Rin turned toward the woods and lingered in that direction.

Kohaku walked over, took Rin's hands and led her inside.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes. His grip on the necklace tightened. There should be no reason for Kohaku to hold anything on Rin's body. Just speaking to Rin would suffice; even Sesshomaru himself had not held Rin's hands since Naraku disappeared.

After the three went inside, the night sank back into tranquility.

A sharp demonic scent sparked into Sesshomaru's nose. He stood back. It could be a scheme to avert his attention. There was only one demonic scent in the area. After a brief moment, he leapt toward its origin.

Sesshomaru landed on a boulder protruding from a high slope. A short distance from him, a young man stood on the top crossbar of the village gate, his back towards Sesshomaru.

With the man's face hidden from view, the man's scent was the only thing to go by. Though it was vaguely familiar, it did not reveal much.

Sesshomaru's gaze moved to the staff in the man's hand. Studying it for a brief moment, His eyes widened.

 _'Shishinki's Meido Staff?'  
_  
Despite the recognition, Sesshomaru stood motionless.

A brief moment of silence passed when the man finally leapt away, disappearing from Sesshomaru's senses.

He did not pursue further. Instead, he returned to the village and continued his watch.

...

In the eastern region of the land, the man landed on a rocky pillar of a mountain overlooking a pristine lake.

Shortly after, a few lotus petals blew by.

"So, Takashi, your trip was unfruitful," said a silky female voice addressing the man as Takashi.

"Sesshomaru was there."

"Sesshomaru, ha?" the lady chuckled cynically, "Is he anything like his father?"

"I don't know his father."

The lady was a withered lotus stem, with dried petals as her face. On a lotus platform afloat in mid air, she stood at a short distance behind Takashi. Large petals started to appear before her feet to welcome her forward steps, and they disappeared behind her when her feet left them.

She halted when she reached beside Takashi. "Hmm! So, you didn't go through with your plan because of this Sesshomaru?"

"I don't think I can defeat him."

Holding a fresh lotus, she pinched its stem. The flower dissolved into several tendrils of glistening white light entering her chest.

Her withered form started to change into a young woman with a fair complexion. Long flocks of shimmering silver hair drooped down her back, decorated by a lotus hairpiece on the left side with two long strands of small green beads drooping down along her hair.

"Besides my father, I have never sensed such powerful demonic aura," said Takashi.

A breeze brushed by.

She smiled as an thin silver kimono formed around her body, draped over by a flowy outer robe of the same color. Her transformation completed with a small symbol of a pink lotus appearing on her forehead below the right corner of her hairline.

"The Inu brothers came from a powerful bloodline, Takashi. Just the Tetsaiga and Inuyasha would be enough trouble for you.".

"Hmmm."

"I'm familiar with the power of the Tetsaiga and Inuyasha's transformation on the night of the new moon." Her eyes narrowed. "I'm familiar with the Tenseiga, but I'm not familiar with Sesshomaru or his power."

"It would have been easy if he wasn't there tonight."

"Do not dread, Takashi. All creatures, no matter how strong they are, shall have a weakness."

"What shall we do then, Hasu-sama?" asked Takashi, addressing the lady as Hasu.

"You will have to find the Meido Stone to raise your father's army."

"Where could it be? My father didn't leave it to me."

"Because he had lost it."

Hasu stared pensively into the night air. _'Toga, where could you have possibly hidden the relic?'  
_  
After a short silence, she smirked and stepped on the appearing lotus petals forming a staircase downward to the lake. "I will personally meet this Sesshomaru to witness for myself just what kind of power he has."

When she reached the water, her attire dissolved, revealing her voluptuous body in crystal shine skin as she stepped into the water for her nightly bath.

In the air, Takashi leapt away.

Hasu chuckled girlishly, looking at the image of Takashi leaving reflecting upon the lake.

...


	2. Hidden Places

**Chapter 2: Hidden Places**

The morning after the new moon was sunny with cool breezes intermittently weaving through the air.

Following the scent trail of the man from the night before, Sesshomaru walked steadily on an untrodden path through a forest. He had lost track of the scent somewhere far back, but he walked on from the vanishing point to see what lay ahead.

Jaken staggered behind, fumbling with his staff.

"Lord Sesshomaru, may I ask where we're going, my lord?"

"Nowhere."

Sesshomaru suddenly stopped.

The air had a different scent, a faint scent resembling his own, but slightly different.

'Father?'

A brief streak of excitement ran down his spine.

"What is it, my lord?" asked Jaken from behind.

"Jaken, move back."

"Yes, My Lord."

When Jaken was out of sight, Sesshomaru leaped forward, spun in mid air, drew the Baksaiga and swung it along with his spin to give the sword more momentum.

As the spin completed -

"BAKSAIGAAA!"

Several streams of energy zigzagged forward, churning the air into violent twisters, rumbling on their paths.

The ground shook. The trees evaporated. A shower of falling leaves swirled around a bloom of the smoke, fogging the area. When the smoke settled, a purple dome barrier revealed itself.

Sesshomaru gazed at it, _'Father's barrier?'_

 _'Did he seal an enemy?'_

 _'Father, why is it that all you did was disabling your enemies.'_

Sesshomaru jumped upward, raising his sword.

"I, Sesshomaru, WILL DESTROY THESE VERMIN ONCE - AND - FOR - ALLL !"

The sword came swiftly down on the barrier which wobbled but remained intact.

 _'Hmph!'_

He did that to test his power. Obviously, Totosai had lied about him surpassing his father, an encouraging lie perhaps. It would take far more than obtaining his own sword to surpass his father. Maybe another 700 years of training would Sesshomaru surpass his father.

But he had not been training.

The quest to prolong Rin's life had been his priority for the last 8 years. The answer remained elusive.

Walking around the barrier, he spotted a small strand of his father's hair arching along the base of the dome. Its ends exuded a continuous stream of energy feeding into the barrier.

He reached out, hesitated for a moment, then released his miasma to dissolve the hair. The barrier slowly disappeared from the bottom upward, revealing a verdant garden of herbs. In the middle, a young girl was plucking weeds.

She stood up. A brilliant shine radiated from her sparkling eyes. She giggled.

"Oh, Sesshomaru-sama, you're here."

"RINNNN!" Jaken screamed. He left his protective bush, springing toward the young girl.

"I SAID STAY. BACK. JAKEN!"

Jaken immediately scrambled for a hiding place.

Sesshomaru sprang forward and brought his sword down on the girl, splitting her in half.

A scream ripped through the air.

The disfigured girl dissolved into tiny particles, reassembling into a giant serpent with fluorescent scales. She had three human heads on three flexible long necks, giving her a full circle of vision. She had no arms or legs.

She mocked, "Aww! Toga. You have come to free me? Well, I've missed you."

Sesshomaru just stared at her.

Her tongues slithered out of her mouths.

"You're not Toga?"

Her voice changed to an acrimonious tone.

"Whyyyy, you imposter! Youuuu wretched FOOOOOL!"

She laughed ominously.

"I haven't seen a living creature for centuries. I shall drink your bile to complete my power!"

After the threat, all her three mouths spat out showers of venomous spears in all directions.

With nonstop attacks, the venom spears clouded the air. The trees melted. Spots on the ground where the venom dropped dissolved into small craters.

With swift maneuvers, Sesshomaru dodged the tiny spears that were moving so fast they were almost invisible. Despite his uncanny agility, his mokomoko was hit, a large portion melted, almost eating into his shoulder.

He backed away, anchored himself on a tree and swung his sword. Consecutive waves of Baksaiga energy clashed with the serpent's venomous shower.

Despite his fierce defense, some spears still made it through, heading straight for him.

He jetted upward, disappearing from her sight.

Following his direction with all her heads, she continued to shoot out venomous spears at his him.

As she concentrated her attacks upward, leaving her sides vulnerable, Sesshomaru transformed into his true form and zipped toward her unguarded side. Closing in, he ripped her body in halves, exposing her bile sac. Resuming to his human form, he pierced her bile sac with the Baksaiga.

The liquid inside the sac exploded into small droplets, spilling onto his sword and slowly spreading through its blade.

He jumped backward, allowing a safe distance. He crouched down, preparing for her next attack.

All her heads averted their focus on him, their eyes sending spine chilling glares.

"You IDIOT! You think you can overpower me by such basic combat moves?" she spoke in a throaty voice then released a mocking laughter.

"Your speed is lightning. I'll give you that, but your power is not enough to kill me, Fool!"

The lower half of her body glided a short distance backward. The top half followed and reattached as her malicious laughs resonated through the air.

"Dieeeeee, FOOL!"

She spat out another stream of venom shower.

"HAH?!"

No venom came out.

Her eyes widened, her mouths agape, she shot cutting glares at the Baksaiga that was coated with a dark green viscous liquid.

"My venom!"

The Baksaiga pulsated, exuding a green net around the green liquid, fusing the liquid into its blade before returning to its original shiny splendor.

The scent of terror emanated from the serpent.

 _'Hmph! In that case - '_

"Take your own poison, VERMINNN!"

Sesshomaru swung his sword, sending a dark green veil of venomous spears into the serpent's entire body.

She let out a long terrifying high-pitched howl as she melted.

Jaken came out from hiding. His lower triangular lip was on the floor. His eyes were two terrified orbs.

"Wha! My lord, that attack - "

Sesshomaru's eyes wandered back and forth over his sword. Raising the sword, he ejected a small beam of light green spears into a bush nearby, melting it instantly.

 _'Hmph! How interesting!'_

He sheathed his sword and resumed his walk in the same direction he was heading previously.

...


	3. Her Presence

**...**

 **...**

 **Chapter 3: Her Presence  
**  
Later, on the same morning, at Kaede's village, a lotus petal flew into Aika's house and landed behind Aika, the village's chirography teacher. The petal transformed into Hasu who immediately reached out a hand and drew a stream of light from Aika's head, and Aika's life memories and knowledge flashed quickly through Hasu's mind.

Aika whimpered but only briefly before her body shriveled up and disintegrated, leaving only her skin sac intact. Hasu picked up Aika's skin and fused it into her own skin. A short moment later, an alive Aika stepped outside.

Earlier that morning, Hasu had instructed Takashi to take a horde of lowly demons and raided a human village nearby to draw Inuyasha's attention away from Kaede's village. Her plan was successful allowing her to come through undetected.

At the moment, she stood in front of Aika's home with a girlish chuckle. In Aika's skin, she would elude the Inu brothers' keen detection.

...

At mid afternoon, Sesshomaru returned to the village and went to Rin's garden from his unfruitful trip of hunting down the man.

He stood on a boulder from afar, gazing at Rin.

Rin moved through the rows of herbs, pulling up weeds in a skillful fashion, pruned the plants and harvested the necessary amount. She then went to a creek nearby to fetch water for the garden. On the other side was a vegetable garden and a patch of fruiting trees. She tended to that garden the same way she did the herbs.

When all was done, she walked down the footpath beside the gardens for a final inspection. Her eyes gleamed with love and pride. She then put up her tools, picked up the sack of harvested herbs, and went to the grass field where Ah-Un was grazing.

Rin was stroking Ah-Un's back when Ah-Un roared happily. She turned around. Her eyes lit up. She stumbled and fell, luckily Ah-Un placed his head under her to stop her from hitting the ground.

Jaken yelled, "Be careful, Rin. You clumsy girl."

Sesshomaru stood motionless beside Jaken, fixing his gaze on Rin.

Rin had had her kimono rolled up and tied around her legs. Her hair was pulled up in a haphazard bunch. A few small stems of weed caught in between her hair and stuck out in random directions. There were streaks of dirt on her face.

Sesshomaru's eyes gleamed with amusement.

Rin started running toward him, giggling like a child. But when she was at halfway, she stopped. She stared at him briefly and then lowered her head.

A moment of silence passed.

Rin resumed her running toward him.

At full speed with her head still lowered, Rin was blindly running into him. He immediately broke the armor on his chest using his internal power to prevent her face from hitting the sharp horns protruding from it - just in time as she flopped into his chest and quivered, "Sesshomaru-sama!"

Her tears started to dampen his chest. She folded her arms around him. She was trembling. He slightly bent his elbow, cupped her head with his palm, and pulled her even closer.

Rin fell comfortably into his arms.

Jaken raised his voice, "Rin, keep decorum. What's wrong with you, girl?"

Sesshomaru threw Jaken an angry glare which shut the latter up from further protest.

Rin stayed in Sesshomaru's arms even after Jaken said that.

And Sesshomaru would embrace Rin until the end of time if that was what she wanted. He had been longing to hold Rin for the last 8 years since she came to the village. But since Naraku disappeared, he couldn't find a protective reason to hold Rin anymore.

When he visited, especially lately, Rin had started to be timid and had stood at a short distance from him. She would fold her hands in front of her in a decorous manner and almost always kept her face lowered. He wanted to know why she seemed shy around him, but he didn't ask.

He didn't want to leave Rin at the village. But he was not the best protector of Rin. She had died in his arms and he was powerless to stop it, and it was all his fault. If it wasn't for his mother, he would have lost Rin forever. Besides, Kaede was very convincing that it would be best if Rin was presented with more options. If Rin was constantly in the presence of a seductively handsome and strong person such as him, she would be blind to any other viable options that might be better for her.

The decision was made because it was best for Rin. And Sesshomaru would suffer eternal pain if need be in exchange for something that was best for Rin.

But he missed his Rin for one simple reason, he was simply addicted to her scent.

Like young sakura blossoms in the fresh sunshine of a spring dawn, Rin's scent was of pure innocence, cheerfulness, and loving, devoid of jealousy and hatred, the two emotions which had a foul scent to him. And all others he had met had some traces of those emotions, even Kagome.

Rin's scent was euphoric. It never failed to wrap him up in its radiance. It had become even more pleasing as their companionship progressed. He would and had risked everything, even his life, to protect her, and he no longer cared to deny that Rin was the most important.

At the moment, being that close to him, Rin's evermore pleasant scent, temporarily mixed with the scent of the earth, the sun and fresh herbs, had him all wrapped up inside its utopic aura, yet again.

And he reveled in her presence.

Though her anxiety puzzled him, so he said in his most gentle voice.

"Rin."

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama," she quivered.

"What is bothering you?"

A moment of silence ensued.

Rin slowly backed away with her head still lowered. She wiped off her tears but still didn't answer his question.

There should be no reasons why she should be trembling and crying like that. Did something happen? But she wouldn't tell him. Was it because Inuyasha had chastised her the night before? Ah, perhaps the necklace.

Sesshomaru reached out his hand and opened it.

"Is this yours?"

"Umm?!"

When she saw the lost necklace in his hand, she looked up at him with her pink blushed cheeks. She smiled as if all her anxiety had just vanished.

It eased him some.

She stepped closer to take the necklace. Her hands softly touched his and rested there for a moment. He allowed that touch without disturbances until she withdrew first before he pulled his hand back to its natural position.

"Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama!"

She braced the pendant against her chest. She then reached up and traced the crescent shape on his forehead. Her eyes shined like a kid with her favorite toy.

He slightly tilted his head, probably so that it would be easier for her to reach. He stayed still and let her trace whatever she wanted to on his face.

She moved to the stripes, from one side to another. She giggled softly and stopped her finger at the end of one of the stripes.

"Sesshomaru-sama."

"Yes."

"You're so dashing!"

He raised his brows. He had heard it before from her and acted like the compliment went unnoticed, but he was elated.

He took her hand and led it slightly away but didn't let go. He just held her hand at the level of his face.

His gaze intensified.

She giggled and pulled her hand away, and he loosened his hold so she could do that. She blushed even deeper and turned away to walk back to Ah-Un.

She walked by Jaken, "Come on, Jaken-sama, let's go home."

Jaken had to speed walk to keep up with her since she had grown a lot taller.

Ah-Un crouched down for her to get on as she offered her hand to help Jaken up. Together, they took off, with Rin sending soft giggles into the air.

Normally, that would be the extent of Sesshomaru's visit, but the recent uneasiness from Rin convinced him to stay longer. So he ascended, drifting slowly behind them.

...

Note:

Thank you marnika, Alina and Ginink for the reviews. It encourages me a lot.


	4. Unfamiliar Emotions

**...**

 **...**

 **Chapter 4: Unfamiliar Emotions  
**  
Sesshomaru landed a short distance away from Kaede's place where Rin and Jaken had landed with Ah-Un earlier.

He stood fixedly gazing at Rin reclining in Kohaku's arms. Her hand was cupping Kohaku's cheek. Her face was close to Kohaku's face, their lips almost touching. The two were looking at each other, seeming to forget about the world around them. And Rin was smiling.

Jaken was flailing his arms fussing about some decorum again when he suddenly screamed, "SESSHOMARU-SAMA!"

Rin and Kohaku both turned toward Jaken and saw Sesshomaru standing a short distance away, watching them.

"Sesshomaru-sama," Kohaku properly let Rin down and greeted Sesshomaru with a respectful tone.

Kagome was collecting the sun dried herbs on her yard. She too turned at him and greeted him in a more playful tone.

"Oh, Hi, big brother!"

Sesshomaru didn't react or return the greeting to any of them. He just gazed at Rin.

 _'Hmm! Is that what Rin has chosen?'_

"Ooh! He's angry," Jaken thought out loud.

"Sesshomaru-sama is angry?" asked Rin as she ran up to Sesshomaru.

He turned around and took off toward the nearby woods, to be somewhere far away fast before he gave in to his urge to kill Kohaku, ignoring Jaken and even Rin who were both screaming after him.

"W-wait for me, Lord Sesshomaruuuu," screamed Jaken.

And Rin's voice followed.

"Jaken-sama, wait for meee!"

The stripes on his cheeks had become jagged and his eyes had turned red when he landed in the woods. He looked at a tall tree in front of him and his face turned back to the more gentle human form by the memories of his first meeting Rin.

He stood in silence. His journey with Rin flashed back .

During that journey, He had saved creatures like Kohaku or Kagome who he had wanted to kill before, and he had practically protected the whole Inuyasha's gang, even Inuyasha. He had refrained from killing needlessly. Even when he was challenged first, he had let some go unharmed like those Ungai monks.

He had overheard Jaken's conversation with Rin about her adventure to obtain the thousand year berries to save his life. After she told the story, Jaken fussed at her for being risky, and she told Jaken, "I don't want anyone else to die, especially you, Jaken-sama!"

Of course, Rin was weak, but her weak little self seemed unfazed. She had risked her life trying to save the person who had abducted her, Kagura, and again risked her life trying to save Kohaku who had tried to kill her.

Even when Sesshomaru let the very person who did kill her, Koga, go, Rin was as happy as she always was, walking behind him with her scent as pleasant as ever.

 ** _"I don't want anyone else to die."_**

The sentence was imprinted in Sesshomaru's mind. He started to observe her innocent bravery of her love for living beings. Her view of the world was interesting and different from his.

When Sango risked Rin's life to save Miroku during their final battle with Naraku, Sesshomaru stood there, wondering if Rin would forgive Sango. And he knew she would, so he forgave Sango.

Rin had driven him to do the very thing he scorned Inuyasha for doing and used to be proud that he himself would never do.

Worse, he even brought gifts!

With his hatred for humans, he never did imagine that he would one day visit and bring gifts to a mere weak human girl. By god, he didn't even bring gifts for his mother.

But he brought gifts because Rin's utopic aura intensified when she received them. It energized him even more than obtaining power, and he was secretly proud that his gifts could increase its intensity.

Rin had made him feel emotions he didn't know existed - compassion, sorrow and fear, protectiveness, and the desire to be wrapped in Rin's peaceful light.

He learned camaraderie when he fought alongside Inuyasha's gang, a far cry from the self-reliant and arrogant Sesshomaru of before.

And he had learned respect when he realized he could not destroy the Shikon Jewel, but Kagome could with her far less impressive power.

He had stepped into Rin's world where his actions became softer, yet he became stronger, and he slowly realized that power was a product of many interweaving elements and not just the simple attainment of sheer brute strength.

And in that world, he had experienced many uncharted emotions that he thought he could no longer be surprised by any new ones.

But at the moment. How did THIS happen? This new emotion!

It was an intoxicating desire to be Rin's choice, to make her happy, yet it was conflicted with the thirst to kill KOHAKU who was apparently making her very happy in the evidence of her smile while in Kohaku's arms.

He was briefly angry at Rin, something he had always thought impossible.

How could an emotion be so conflicting. How could one feel the desire to make someone happy yet wanting to kill the object that was making her happy. How could one want to be with with someone yet angry at her when she had done nothing wrong.

This baseless emotion! He was unable to control it.

His eyes flared red again.

 _'Rin! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!'_

This emotion, this weakness, was invoked by one very fragile little human girl, and she didn't even do it intentionally.

He crouched into a half-kneeling position and planted the Baksaiga on the ground. Leaning with one hand on the sword hilt, he lowered his face in the shadow of his arm.

Rin and Jaken finally found him and were approaching him from behind. His eyes quickly flipped to the usual gold. He stood up and put the sword back by his waist. Strangely, the confusing emotion completely evaporated. Perhaps it was just a freaky glitch.

He closed his eyes and thought matter-of-factly, _'I, Sesshomaru, bend to the will of No One!'_

He turned around and gazed at Rin. Telling Rin a final goodbye would be too difficult. Surely, her death would be the only thing that would force their final farewell. But at this junction, since she had obviously chosen - not him, so to preserve her happiness and to prevent himself from that cursed emotion again and couldn't twice resist the urge to kill everything around her, he must leave.

Rin approached him with her usual cheery smile and bright eyes.

"Sesshomaru-sama, are you angry at me?" she asked.

He gazed at her for what seemed like the longest moment. Uneasiness churned inside his mind. But he had never lost his determinate nature despite having developed the more gentle side.

"Rin."

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama."

"We shall part ways here."

Rin didn't say anything. She just stared with an empty expression.

He, too, gazed at her for a long moment. She must have an explanation, a protest, a question or something, but Rin stood speechless.

He finally said, "This is my final goodbye. I hope you will fare well, Rin."

Jaken screamed, "H-Hah!? What? Final Goodbye? Are we going to another dangerous battle?"

Sesshomaru kept quiet. After a short moment, he turned and started walking away.

Jaken ran after him, "Lord Sesshomaru, waittt! WAITTT MY LORD!"

Suddenly, Sesshoamru stopped. His eyes flickered.

 _'BLOOD!'_

His head jerked back.

 _'Rin!'_

He dashed toward Rin. His eyes wandered from Rin's teary eyes to her hand where the scent of her blood came from. He took her bleeding hand and inspected it.

She opened it and saw that the pointy ends from the crescent pendant had made two deep cuts into her palm.

"Ooohh!" she apparently just became aware of the blood and the pain. "Oouch! Sorry, Sesshomaru-sama. I have to find some morning glory plants to stop the bleeding."

She grimaced as she pushed on the wound to constrict the blood flow. She started walking around looking for the plant.

Jaken went with her, fussing about everything and asking about morning glories.

Sesshomaru followed. His recent conviction that he would bend to the will of no one seemed to have faded.

Jaken kept plucking random plants and handed them to Rin.

"Is this it?"

Rin giggled.

"No, Jaken-sama. Its leaves are triangular. Its flowers look like cones of duck web. What you got there is a pennywort."

Sesshomaru looked around and saw nothing that looked like what she just described.

Suddenly, he caught an unfamiliar scent and turned to its direction, trying to recognize what the scent was but couldn't.

He called his companions, "Rin. Jaken."

They answered in unison, "Yes, Sesshomaru-sama."

"Follow me."

...

Note:

hanayuki. Thank you for your review. I will try my best, for my favorite Rin and Sess. ^ ^

GuestoftheMoon. Thank you for your very candid review. First, I appreciate your comment for both stories. It encourages me a lot, and I am going to try my best to make them good. And yes, I am having terrible trouble with the other story. As for Rin, since she is my most favorite character, I don't intend to make her pathetic. But so far in the story, I parallel this modern Rin with the Rin in the anime before she met Sesshomaru. I do think she did have somewhat a hard life until she met him. But for my other story to work, Sesshomaru has to be gentle. So, in trying to keep Sesshomaru in character of a cold hearted person, the flow of the story seems too forced, so I am not having a very easy time with it. And I realize that writing about Sesshomaru as a human is just too hard because the character I know and love is not a human but a cool powerful demon. So yes, I am having a horrible time with it. lol. But since I started it, I am going to find some way to try to finish it. Any further comment from you is very appreciated, positive or negative. Thank you.

Sgt. Sporky. Oh my! You're very knowledgeable about all this stuff. I am very illiterate about the whole thing. To be honest, Inuyasha is the only anime I have watched, and one of the very few fictions I have read. I'm mostly a nonfiction person. So all those you named, I have not seen or watched or even heard of. I tried to get into other anime after Inuyasha but I couldn't get into any of them. I follow your advice to look up stuff in Jishio dictionary, but I have no idea how to read kanji, so I am still as clueless. So I just look up for words to be translated into Japanese and use them as names. Now I do hope that it doesn't come out meaning totally different or inappropriate like some of the examples you gave. If you find it interesting to follow my story further, I hope if any names sound ridiculous, please give me that feedback, so I don't inadvertently name someone with a very inappropriate word. Thank you again for your review and your interesting explanation. It was eye opening for me. I thought it would be easier than that, but apparently, it gets complicated.


	5. Weakness

**...**

 **...**

 **Chapter 5: Weakness**  
  
Hasu had carefully followed Sesshomaru when he zipped by Aika's house earlier on his way to the woods. At the moment, she was standing in front of a lotus behind a thick dense of trees a short distance from Sesshomaru and his companions.

She turned around as she heard Sesshomaru's footsteps approaching.

Coming from behind Sesshomaru, Rin approached Hasu with a bright smile.

"Oh! Good evening Aika-sama. How was your class today?"

"Oh Good evening, Rin. Class went well. The kids are always very well behaved. Thank you. And who are these gentlemen?"

"Oh, this is Sesshomaru-sama and Jaken-sama." Rin turned toward the duo. "And this is our village chirography teacher, Aika-sama."

Sesshomaru and Jaken just stared at Hasu as Hasu smiled timidly and made a subtle bow.

"What are you doing here, Aika-sama? It's almost dark."

"Hmm? Yes. I was collecting some woods for the stove when I came across this beautiful lotus. I try to uproot it to take back to my garden, but it sure is oneee stubborn plant."

Hasu grunted, trying to pull on the flower. Rin came over to help, temporarily forgetting that her hand was still bleeding.

The two women were, grunting, fussing, and giggling even though they were hopelessly unsuccessful.

"Rin," Sesshomaru interrupted with a warm and gentle voice.

"Yes?! Sesshomaru-sama."

"Do you have any herbs at home to stop the bleeding?"

"Yes, of course, Sesshomaru-sama. I have many different herbs at home for bleeding," replied Rin as she grunted trying to pull the lotus. "Argg! Ergg! Ergggg!"

"Then let's go home, Rin."

Sesshomaru started walking toward Rin.

"Yes! Rin. Let's go home to stop your bleeding. If not, you weak human self will bleed to death," Jaken chastised Rin.

"Hah?! But Aika-sama needs help. Let me help her pull this flower up real quick, then we can go home."

"Girl, when have you become disobedient to Lord Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru stopped walking and stared at Rin who was making so many unsightly body maneuvers trying to pull on one small stubborn flower.

He then gazed at the flower for a long moment then approached Rin and picked her up with one arm under her shoulders and the other under the bent of her knees.

"Oh?!" Rin seemed surprised but didn't seem to mind the motion. She fell into his arms.

Sesshomaru glanced at Hasu, "Stay away from that flower. It is poisonous."

Rin smiled cheerfully, "Say Sesshomaru-sama, how do you know that flower is poisonous?"

"Rin, as a gardener, you should know that a lotus does not naturally grow on dry ground."

Rin's eyes lit up, "Oh, yes. You Areee right."

Sesshomaru took a final glance at Hasu before taking off with Rin in his arms.

"Goodbye Aika-sama," said Rin as she got swept away into the air.

Jake was on the ground, "Lord Sesshomaru. Wait for meeeee!"

When the three left, a cool smile spread Hasu's lips with a light shade of pink gleaming over her eyes.

 _'Hmm! Such perfection._ Sesshomaru is indeed powerful. After all, he sent your father, Shishinki, into the underworld.'

She giggled flirtatiously, "Tch! Tch! Tch! So, Toga, you found another perfect demon of your own species to create Sesshomaru to preserve your kingly bloodline, hah?! You slick hound. Could it be that arrogant, elusive Inu Princess Hikari? Could it be her where you hide the Meido Stone?"

Her light pink eyes darkened, contrasted by a fiery glare. She easily picked the lotus that she had pretended having trouble pulling out earlier when Sesshomaru was there.

She took in a whiff of the flower's scent. The image of Uekya-sama standing in front of a shimmering giant lotus in a lotus garden flashed into her mind. His gentle words rang in her ears.

 ** _"Hasu, that lotus is my gift to you."_**

 ** _"Oh, thank you, Uekya-sama."_**

 ** _"Your power is to bewitch your enemies. By absorbing the shimmering light flowing from this flower, your power will increase a hundred folds. No matter how powerful your enemies are, they will succumb long enough for you to dispose of them."_**

 ** _"No matter how powerful?"_**

 ** _Uekya chuckled, "But remember, the more powerful they are, the less time you have. Act fast, Hasu."_**

 ** _She cradled the flower in her hands. She skipped around the garden, dancing with the lotuses. She giggled melodically to the wind. The shimmering light of her body formed glistening swirls floating above the garden._**

 ** _Uekya started to glide gently away on the top of the grass blades._**

 ** _"Remember, Hasu. Only use your power to protect the beauty of this world."_**

 ** _"Uekya-sama, where are you goinggg?"_**

She stepped onto an upward path of appearing petals. They appeared faster, enabling her to briskly glide back to the lake for her nightly bath.

When she was in the water, she stretched out her hand and moved it slowly upward. A large glass tube, sealed at both ends, emerged from the water and suspended above the lake.

A lifeless lotus hung limply inside the glass tube. Its head drooped down with dried petals barely hanging on.

She looked at it with sullen eyes, _'Uekya-sama? Why were the humans so enchanting to you. They drove you to fight against your own kind and drove you to your unforgivable death.'_

She swirled her hand, the water churned violently and swallowed the tube down to its hiding place.

 _'How could you leave me all alone in this world? I hate you, Akaibara! And your humankind. As soon as I regained my power, I will see to it that your kind knows nothing but misery through their pathetically short lifespan!'_

Her thought returned to Sesshomaru. _'That girl. Is she your weakness? Are you in love with a human like your father? Love, is it?'_ She chuckled. _'Such a cliche of a weakness but never fails to be a weakness. Perhaps, I should start from her.'_

…

NOTE:

Guest: Thank you so much for your encouragement. It helps motivate me a lot.

Sgt. Sporky: Thank you so much for the explanation of the "ga" for the Tetsaigia, Baksaiga and Tenseiga. I did fall in love with the Japanese after this series, and I am very eager to know anything about them. And why are young men bad at feelings? Maybe I could understand some more. Why can't you guys just say it flat out ... lol..


	6. Kagome's Mischief, Sesshomaru's Reaction

**...**

 **...**

 **Chapter 6: Kagome's Mischief, Sesshomaru's Reaction**

When Sesshomaru and Rin got back, Sesshomaru let Rin down. Rin thanked him with a smile like she had always done even though he had never replied with a "You are welcome". He usually just gazed at her.

At the moment, Sesshomaru was gazing at her just the same.

 _'That feeling is similar to how I felt when I did not inherit the Tetsaiga. Is it that I think Rin is my rightful possession and nobody else should possess her but me? No, Rin is - '_

His thought was interrupted by Jaken's dramatic arrival.

"LORD SESSHOMARUUUU!"

Sesshomaru frowned and glanced back.

"Must you always be so loud, YOU LITTLE IMP?" Inuyasha stood up from his spot by the bonfire, apparently annoyed by Jaken's scream.

Jaken retorted, "Well, you're pretty loud yourself, you pathetic half-breed."

"Why, Youuuu!"

Inuyasha put his hand on the Tetsaiga, Jaken raised his staff, both stood in an attacking stance when they were interrupted by Sesshomaru's gentle and less loud voice.

"Rin."

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama."

"Go get what you need for your hand."

"Jaken."

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama."

"Go with Rin."

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama."

"Yes, Jaken-sama. Come on in with me, I will make you some lemonade."

"Lemonade? Yes." Jaken rubbed his hands and followed Rin, "I love your lemonade."

When the two went inside, Kagome came out with two plates of food. She handed Inuyasha one plate.

"Here Inuyasha. I made your favorite."

"Hah! Oh! I DO love these."

Inuyasha took the plate, sat back down and started on his dinner.

Kagome grinned at him with hearts in her eyes.

She threw Sesshomaru a mischievous glance and smiled.

"You sure are staying a lot longer this time, big brother," said Kagome.

Sesshomaru did not answer her.

She slowly approached him.

"Uhmm, Sesshomaru," Kagome handed him her plate with two hands. "Will you please take this plate and have dinner with us?"

For a moment, Sesshomaru didn't even stir.

The girl was just annoying, but sweetly annoying. She didn't have to be killed anymore, but she had to be stopped from ever talking to him ever again.

Sometimes, things had to be solved from another angle. He had done things he wouldn't have done before since Rin, and most had turned out quite nice. And ignoring this girl was not working out.

So.

Sesshomaru turned to look at Kagome. He then took the plate from her hands. He picked up a carrot stick and put it in his mouth and used the poison from his fangs to dissolve it because, truly, he didn't eat human food.

Kagome dropped her jaw slightly. She stood staring at him emptying the plate bit by bit, her eyes not blinking.

When Sesshomaru was done, he handed the plate back to Kagome.

"You are a very good cook considering most of it was raw food."

Kagome slowly took the plate back.

Inuyasha smirked.

"I ain't sharing my dinner because you had to invite that bastard to your plate."

Though, Inuyasha was a smart guy. He had been eating his food rather slowly, and there was still half left on his plate.

Kagome walked toward Inuyasha with her feet stumping heavily on the ground. She yanked the plate from Inuyasha's hand.

"SIT! BOY!"

*THUD*

She muttered, "I, thought, he, DOESN'T, eat, human, FOOD."

She sat down and started chowing down on the food left by Inuyasha.

"Hey, what did I do? And why am I still wearing these cursed beads?"

Sesshomaru turned away to hide an outward smirk at Kagome's reaction and at Inuyasha's "SITTING" position.

After a brief moment, Sesshomaru turned back to Kaede's front door. He then went to the tree in front of the house and sat down, leaning against its trunk and closed his eyes.

Inuyasha got up from his "SIT" position and smacked his shoulder.

*SPAT*

Myoga fell to the ground in front of Inuyasha, "Oh, Lord Inuyasha. It's good to see you."

Inuyasha raised his hand about to smack Myoga again, but the ladder jumped on Kagome's shoulder.

"Oh, hi, Myoga."

"Hi, Kagome," Myoga jumped up and down, "Lord Sesshomaru, please come closer. I have something to tell you and Lord Inuyasha."

"I can hear you."

"Oh, alright."

"Kuh. What do you want to tell us, Myoga?"

Miroku had come out and joined Inuyasha by the bonfire.

Kohaku had also come out. He greeted Sesshomaru again as he walked by him. Sesshomaru didn't return the greeting. Kohaku walked toward Inuyasha's house. He stood, leaning on the front wall and playing with a dry stem of grass in his mouth.

...


	7. The Great Demon Uekya, Lord of the Trees

**...**

 **...**

 **Chapter 7: The Great Demon Uekya, Lord of the Trees  
**  
As Myoga was about to start his story, at Hasu's lake, Hasu rose from the water and stepped on the upward lotus path.

Takashi landed on his usual boulder and stood silently.

"That was a perfect diversion today, Takashi. It would be more difficult to get close to that village with Inuyasha there." Hasu playfully stroke a strand of her hair. "Sesshomaru is indeed powerful."

Takashi glanced at her.

"I think Sesshomaru's mother must possess the Meido Stone. I expect she will make her appearance soon, and we shall confirm it."

"Why do you think she will show up soon?"

"It's only a guess. Sesshomaru has just come of age." She changed to a playfully salacious tone. "He's about to experience his first taste of physical desire."

"So what? Is the mother going to come and mate her son?"

"There must be a reason why the descendants of the Inu Demon are perfect in stature and power. I do not imagine she will mate her son, for that will tarnish their virtuous bloodline. Though, I imagine she would make sure Sesshomaru doesn't take any random creatures as his mate."

"Hmm! Then we shall wait for her." Takashi smirked. "Meanwhile, I'll continue to raid the human villages."

Hasu kept quite. She looked toward the southeast direction, pensive.

 ** _A human army of five hundred men stood in front of the mountain. They could not reach Uekya because he was standing on the platform in front of his cave high up on the mountain._**

 ** _The general of the army, clad in a thick metal armor from head to toes leaving only his dark eyes unguarded, which was the fashion of the whole army, raised his hand._**

 ** _"Coward demon, come down here. We need a talk of negotiation."_**

 ** _Uekya looked at the army with a calm demeanor. Then he descended toward the army below._**

 ** _When he came within their range, the general swung his arm forward._**

 ** _"ATTACK!"_**

 ** _Hundreds of arrows pasted with talisman paper swooshed from the men's bows toward Uekya._**

 ** _He dashed backward and spoke in a thunderous voice that echoed through the valley below._**

 ** _"YOU, SHALL, KEEP, TO THE RULES OF BATTLE!"_**

 ** _He spun around and swung his arm. The leaves from the surrounding trees left their branches and formed a blurry green trail following his hand's movement._**

 ** _When the spin completed, he pointed at the men, sending the leaves furiously forward to counteract the arrows head on._**

 ** _At the clash, the arrows evaporated. The leaves continued on their paths as they turned into metal, heading fiercely straight for the men's eyes, the only parts of their body unshiedlded._**

 ** _The leaves suddenly stopped when they almost reached the men's eyes, turned back to normal leaves, falling down._**

 ** _Uekya landed on the ground, standing with his side toward them. He glanced with a gentle glaze in his eyes._**

 ** _"Enlighten me. I do not know who you are, and I do not know of any matter to be discussed between us."_**

 ** _The whole army stood speechless._**

 ** _Suddenly, the sound of a horse's gallops approached. From that direction, a helpless scream called out to him._**

 ** _"UeKYAAA!"_**

 ** _On the horse was a young human woman with her arms tied behind her on a horse. Sitting behind her was a warrior holding a knife across her neck._**

 ** _Uekya turned toward the voice, "Akaibara!"_**

 ** _The general approached the horse when it reached the battleground and spoke in an arrogant tone._**

 ** _"Princess Akaibara, today, it would be either your death or this demon's death. You choose. If you tell this monster to submit to his execution, we'll let you live."_**

 ** _The general pointed his sword at Akaibara's chest, "Now, princess, TELL HIM TO SUBMIT AT ONCE!"_**

 ** _"No! Don't hurt him. Please, I shall die in his stead."_**

 ** _"Akaibara, you shall NOT die in anyone's stead this day," Uekya said in a firm tone._**

 ** _"NOOOOO!" Akaibara shook her head vigorously. "I don't want you to die."_**

 ** _Akaibara lunged her neck into the knife that was held securely against her when the ground started to shake, causing the men to teeter back and forth. Cracking sounds erupted around them as a surge of trees shot up from the ground. Their branches soared around the men, encircling their bodies, rendering them immobile._**

 ** _A branch looped around the horse, brought it upward and turned it upside down, shaking off the warrior on its back. A vine caught him right before he hit the ground._**

 ** _As Akaibara fell down from the horse, Uekya sent several soft vines in her direction, encasing her, spinning her toward him, unharmed._**

 ** _The vines evaporated, and Akaibara fell into the circle of his arms._**

 ** _Uekya held Aikabara and glided upward to his cave. Once there, he released a small drop of white sap into the ground below. From its flow, an impenetrable wall of trees sprang up, surrounded the army, leaving only one small path open that led them back to the direction where the horse had come from._**

 ** _The branches that held the men loosened and let them free as they heard Uekya's voice in the air._**

 ** _"Go back to your human world and never again disturb my peace."_**

 ** _After the men were gone, Hasu ran toward Uekya, "Uekya-sama, those men are evil. Why did you let them go unharmed?"_**

 ** _Uekya let go of Akaibara and approached Hasu. He patted the crown of Hasu's head and smiled gently._**

 ** _"Hasu, my child, whether they are evil or not, we shall not meddle with the natural course of their life. Our power is to defend and protect, never to harm."_**

 ** _He knelt down beside her and playfully pinched her chin, "Don't you remember anything I teach you?"_**

 ** _She jumped into his arms and faked a pout, "NO!"_**

 ** _He caught her and stood up, carrying her upward, "Now, Hasu. You are misbehaving."_**

 ** _She pounded on his chest with her small fists, "They will come back and hurt you."_**

 ** _"You will protect me, won't you?"_**

 ** _"NO!"_**

 ** _"Why not?"_**

 ** _"Because I would have to kill those humans, and you don't want me to kill anything, especially the humans!"_**

 ** _Uekya pushed the tip of her nose teasingly, "You did learn something, my lovely Hasu!"_**

Hasu sighed. _'As you wish, I will not kill your beloved humans, Uekya-sama.'_

She looked downward. _'However, a courtesy from me, you shall witness, from your grave, how those evil creatures will kill each other with their own hands by their own greed.'_

She finally answered Takashi, "No, Takashi. It's imperative that we find the Meido Stone. We must also strip the Tenseiga from Sesshomaru. Those will not be easy tasks. Stay close. We work together and seize any opportunities we have."

"But the death of the humans is also needed."

"Yes, indeed. But we will borrow their hands to kill each other for us."

"You mean - "

"We will retrieve the Shoheki Star to release the Rainbow Phoenix." Her eyes darkened as she chuckled. "And by their greed, the human kings will wage war upon each other to possess it."

When she finished the sentence, a line of lotus petals appeared and disappeared in quick succession that looked like a thin white line dashing through the sky. Hasu stepped on them and flew forward, leaving just a blurry pink shadow behind her.

"Come with me, Takashi."

Takashi leaped through various platforms on the ground, following closely behind, leaving his own blurry shadow in an uneven zigzag pattern.

They headed toward the southeast corner of the land.

...

 **Note:**

Sgt. Sporky. Thank you so much for your awesomely detailed and honest review, and the humorous part also. I appreciate very much the feedback. I do try to take your advice wherever I could in the story. I do agree with you about Jaken. I will try to keep him more in check. ^ ^. Thank you so much.

And I would like to thank all the followers of the story. I hope you are reading it and so hope you enjoy it. But if you don't, in any details, I would appreciate some feedback, either in a reviews or pm if you don't like to write public reviews. In that case, I would kinda have a feel for what kind of stories, or details that SessRin readers look for. Thank you so much.


	8. The Tenseiga and Father's True Intention

**...**

 **...**

 **Chapter 8: The Tenseiga and Father's True Intention**

"So, Myoga, weren't you going to tell us something?" Inuyasha asked. "Well?"

"Yes, of course, Lord Inuyasha. There's an enemy after you two. His name is Takashi, the son of Shishinki, the demon who Lord Sesshomaru sent to the underworld with the Meido."

Sesshomaru opened his eyes. _'So, is that who I saw the on the night of the new moon?'_

"Kuh! Who the hell is he? I don't know about Sesshomaru, but I'll squish him like a fly." Inuyasha closed his eyes and turned the other way.

"Lord Inuyasha, you must not underestimate your enemies. Takashi might not have the power to defeat you or Lord Sesshomaru in a one to one combat, but he has a terrible army.

"So, what kind of army?" asked Kagome.

"Shishinki was a demon who could use the Meido Staff to open the gate to the underworld. It is rumored that he could also bring back dead souls. It would be an army of dead souls, evil bandits and warriors, or people who had died in battles, men and women who long for revenge."

"Wow! So, how do you destroy an army like that?"

"Kagome, my master had Totosai forge the Tenseiga in order to destroy the dead souls because no weapons of this world could defeat such an army."

"Yeah. That makes sense," Kagome nodded.

"But what was Shishinki's intention for raising such a terrible army?" Miroku added.

"it was a time when many powerful demons existed. They fought each other to rule over the humans who they can use for food, souls, target practice, slaves, and many other purposes."

"I see. So, humans to demons is like wealth to humans."

"That is correct, Kagome."

Sesshomaru tuned their conversation out momentarily as Myoga went into different gruesome details describing to the gang how demons could use humans.

His father's words came loudly into his ears.

 ** _"Do you desire power so much? Why do you seek power, my son?"_**

 ** _"The path I walk is the way of supreme conquest, and it is power that will reveal the way for me."_**

 ** _"Supreme conquest... tell me, Sesshomaru, have you someone to protect?"_**

 _'Someone to protect? Father, during your lifetime, you also sought power and became a supreme ruler. Not only the Inu demons, but many other demon kinds bowed down, pledged their allegiance, and hailed you as their Lord. Was it just to protect someone? That human woman?'_

His mother, a great demon with much less powerful than father and himself, had been floating in her castle through many territories undisturbed. If she had wished to protect a mere human such as Izayoi who had nothing the demons could benefit from or be interested in, she would have no problem protecting them without having to engage in battles terrible demons and bring herself to the brink of death.

 _'Father, so who was it that you wished to protect?'_

Myoga's voice came back into Sesshomaru's hearing.

"The humans fought back, but even with their strongest demon slayers, monks and priestesses couldn't keep the demons at bay."

"Uh huh!"

"My master fought those ambitious demons to protect the humans."

Sesshomaru threw a contemptuous glance at Myoga.

 _'Father, perhaps I understand why you protected that human woman.'_ The image of Rin smiling flashed across his mind. _'But why sacrifice your life protecting the humans? How ridiculous!'_

Myoga continued, "Shishinki was among those ambitious demons. My master defeated him, taking the Meido Stone into possession from which the Meido Zangetsuha technique was developed. Knowing Shishinki had the ability to raise a dead army, the Tenseiga was forged to prepare for Shishinki's army. Master also put the unfinished Meido Zangetsuha technique into the Tenseiga. Well, you already knew that."

"So, what happened to Shishinki's dead army?" Kagome asked.

"Well," Myoga scratched his head, "He never did such thing, so it became forgotten.

"Kuh! You're talking a whole bunch of nonsense, Myoga. If Shishinki didn't have that army, then maybe he couldn't raise it, then. Why else wouldn't he raise it when he fought Sesshomaru and me?"

"W - Well! Lord Inuyasha. I don't know why he didn't."

"Kuh!"

Miroku chimed in, "According to one of the many legends I had to study during my training, there was mention about a pair of weapons that could open the underworld and raise dead souls. I think it might have something to do with this."

Kagome turned toward Miroku. "Do you mean to say that the Meido Staff alone might not be enough to raise the dead souls, and it needs another weapon?"

"If I remember correctly, yes, I would imagine so," returned Miroku.

"Yeah, that would make sense. Maybe Shishinki didn't have the other weapon he needed," said Kagome.

"Yes. But who is to say Takashi doesn't have it?" Myoga jumped up and down in his forever urgent manner.

"Yes. There is a strong possibility that Takashi has it and is able to raise such an army. Or else, he wouldn't even consider avenging his father." Miroku massaged his chin in a thoughtful manner.

Sesshomaru stood up and moved a little closer to the gang.

"He does not have it."

All eyes turned to Sesshomaru.

"How ya figure that, Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha asked.

"Because he came here on the night of the new moon. The only weapon he had was the Meido Staff."

Everyone gasped at the revelation. A worried expression covered Inuyasha's face as everyone fell silent.

"So, you've been protecting us," Kagome asked.

Sesshomaru produced no answer to Kagome.

"So, you've met Takashi, Lord Sesshomaru," asked Myoga.

"Indeed."

"Did he fight you?" asked Myoga.

"He simply ran away."

"Did you not pursue him?"

"No."

"Why not, Lord Sesshomaru?" Myoga jumped up and down on Kagome's shoulder.

"It would be unwise."

Sesshomaru answered bluntly. He turned away and narrowed his eyes. _'Another weapon? Could it be mother's Meido Stone? After all, it has the ability to bring Rin's soul back from the underworld. Father had taken possession of it, then that might explain why Shishinki never raised his army.'_

He then walked toward Kaede's door, tuning everyone out.

Rin should not be given a choice any longer. It was best that Rin travel with him again. If there was a dead army, the Tenseiga would destroy them in one swing, or maybe three. If it was a live army, it wouldn't stand a chance against his Baksaiga. A simple solution.

He stopped in front of the door. What could be taking Rin so long. He raised his hand to knock but stopped and stood back. Unless it was for Rin's safety, she should not be disturbed.

Kagome approached him. "I'll go check on Rin."

A short moment later, Kagome opened the door and stepped out. "She'll be right out, Sesshomaru."

As soon as Rin stepped out the door, her face immediately hit Sesshomaru's chest.

"Oh! Sesshomaru-sama!"

"Rin."

"Yes!" Rin looked up at him with a pair of owl eyes.

"Fetch Ah-Un and come with me."

"Oh, Sesshomaru-sama, I haven't bathed or had dinner yet."

"I'll take you to this place. You shall bathe and also find food there."

"Oh! Yes!" She grinned so wide that her eyes almost closed. "Let me get a clean kimono and fetch Ah-Un."

Rin left and came back with Ah-Un and a kimono in her hand.

"I'm ready. What about Jaken-sama?"

"He stays here. We will not be long."

"Yes."

Sesshomaru slowly rose into the air. He glanced back at Rin.

Rin waved to the gang with the same eye-closing grin. She then hopped on Ah-Un and took off.

…..

Note:

Sgt Sporky, Thank you so much for your reviews and advice again. I think I won't have an asspull, that's why I spend so much time with back stories with Uekya to lay down a path. But I'm not sure about being contrived, I will try my best not to because this is my first story ever, I have no idea what I'm doing, lol. So After I read your comment, I searched for more advice on Google and got a few, but it's hard to digest all that and really apply it, you know. As for a way out for the protagonist, I think it might take a little bit of work. And The Art of War. hmm.. I did try to read that book, but I was so sad by it after the first few pages, I couldn't go on.

Guest, Thank you so much for your review even though it does not show up yet. But I got the message, and I think I understand a little bit about what SessRin fan wants from your comment. And I agree with it because it is also what I want. I am trying to work out a path for the plot, but I promise you after this chapter, I will focus more on Sess Rin moments.


	9. Hidden Passion

**...**

 **...**

 **Chapter 9: Hidden Passion  
**  
In the air, Sesshomaru slowed down. Rin and Ah-Un reached him and flew beside him.

A weed stem from the garden still dangled on her hair, so Sesshomaru reached out and pulled it off. An amused gleam spread over his eyes.

He sped up and moved on ahead. Ah-Uh roared and accelerated after him. Rin held onto the rein and giggled.

Midway on their flight, the scent of Totosai came into Sesshomaru's senses from below. He descended to meet the old man who was traveling with Mo-Mo on a dirt path through a village.

Rin followed.

"Sesshomaru. Just who I need to see," Totosai said.

Rin arrived at Totosai's side. "Good evening, Totosai-sama."

"Rin. How you have grown."

She grinned.

"And your intent to see me?" asked Sesshomaru.

"I see that you have obtained a new power for your sword."

"Hmph."

"Sesshomaru, I guess you'd figured as much that the Baksaiga is like the Tetsaiga. They can absorb power when they defeat their enemies."

"So, you came to stop me from cutting down the Tetsaiga to obtain its power."

"Hum?!" Totosai scratched his head. "Was that my intention?"

"Ridiculous!"

Sesshomaru took off.

Rin playfully said, "Totosai-sama, he won't do that. He loves Inuyasha-sama and us all very much."

"Hah?!"

She giggled and took off, "Goodbye, Totosai-sama."

"Goodbye, Rin." Totosai continued on his path. " I hope you're right."

Sesshomaru glanced back at Rin with a proud expression. She had said he was kind a few times before, and whenever she said it, her happiness seemed to increase with that assessment of him. So, he continued to do things that she approved of just to keep her happy.

And if not cutting down the Tetsaiga would make Rin happy, then Totosai didn't have to worry about it any longer because Sesshomaru would make sure Rin was right.

They landed at the foot of a mountain not too far from Kaede's village.

A dome shape barrier appeared. He sent a stream of miasma, creating ripples through the barrier, dissolving it.

In front of them appeared a pristine lake of teal color water, fed by a gentle waterfall flowing down a stairs of bedrock descending from the mountain.

Two perpendicular rock walls bordered the lake, and a sakura forest surrounded the remaining sides. Their branches formed a canopy above. Soft moss lined the ground. Random boulders scattered about, with clusters of colorful orchids growing on them.

The sakura trees were in full bloom, painting the place a light shade of pink, and their breathtaking scent saturated the scenery.

Sesshomaru stepped onto a small rock bridge leading to a low lying bedrock in the middle of the lake. Rin followed and stood beside him. She closed her eyes and grinned.

"This place! This place smells just like you, Sesshomaru-sama."

He turned and gazed at her.

She sat down, feeling the water with her feet then slowly submerged to the water level past her chest. The lake was shallow enough, allowing her to stand on the floor instead of having to swim to stay afloat. She then took off her clothes and spread them on the bedrock next to where she had placed her clean kimono.

He sat down next to her clothes, resting his feet unevenly against the side of the bedrock and his arms on his bent knees. He dissolved his armor with his power for more comfort. He watched her briefly then looked away when she started to take her clothes off, allowing her some privacy.

He asked, "You can sense my scent?"

"Of course. Everyone has a scent. Some are pleasant, some less, some not at all. If I stand close, I can smell it."

"Is the scent of this place pleasant?"

"This place?! It is heaven, and its scent is divine, just like you, Sesshomaru-sama."

 _'Her thought of me!'_

He glanced at her.

She spun around and played with the water with her slender arms open wide, creating waves on the lake surface.

She started singing the songs that she used to sing while traveling with him, and the lyrics had his and her name in them. Her voice had become more womanly and softer, and her singing was much more mellifluous than how it used to be.

He was wrapped by her enchanting melody and by her thought of him.

The waves rolled up and down, intermittently revealing the cleavage of her matured bosoms.

Rin bathing in front of him was nothing new since she always did that in the evenings during their travel. He used to be amused by her playfulness with the water, but no special feeling came of it.

But it had been 8 years since.

At the moment, the discreet display of her physical maturity sent a rush of excitement through him. The hairs on his body stiffened and his muscles tightened. The feeling was unfamiliar. It was a strange physical reaction, all involuntarily. He looked away, but the image of her charm lingered and nagged his mind, telling him to glance back at her direction.

How many more strange feelings would Rin make him feel. it was starting to seem endless.

She walked up and folded her arms in a circle on the bedrock. She looked up at him, her eyes sparkled by the the reflection of the starlight.

"Say, Sesshomaru-sama, what is my scent like?"

He gazed at her. The waves were still rising and falling at the level of her chest. Being that close didn't help him to shake off the excitement that was growing even stronger.

Should he tell her he was addicted to her scent. Should he tell her that he was becoming addicted to the image of her cleavage being intermittently revealed by the rising and falling of the waves.

Should he just reach out his hand, cup her cheek and just gaze at her with no answer. He had done that many times before when he couldn't answer her questions.

Or should he just pick her up and hold her like what his body was telling him to do at the moment. Would she still think of him the same if he did that. Would she smile at him like how she smiled in Kohaku's arms earlier in the evening? Or would she frown?

Why was Kohaku even in his thought? Why should everything have to be so carefully considered with him?

Why was it so damn hard for him to just tell her all the things he had wanted to tell her. Why was it so damn hard to just do whatever he wanted with her. She was his!

So why did anything matter?

It mattered. It mattered much what Rin wanted. After all, she had been a bit timid around him lately except for her embrace earlier in the evening. Maybe being with humans for that long, Rin had slowly moved away from his demon world, perhaps even thought that demons were not as gentle as humans.

She should be allowed to make that choice free from his suggestive actions or words. If he reached down and cupped Rin's cheek, if he told her her scent was addictive, if he took her into his arms at that moment, Rin might find him repulsive. So he just waited patiently.

He stood up abruptly and turned away from Rin. It didn't help. Her smile, her scent, and _her_ was still playing with his mind. And his physical reaction just intensified.

"Ooh! Ooh!" Rin said with a tone a little louder than her usual.

He glanced back, almost not daring to glance.

A few fireflies flew by, teasing her with their flashing lights.

She left the bedrock and went chasing after them.

He turned away again. It was just fireflies.

"ARGGG!"

A splashing sound of water ensued.

Sesshomaru quickly turned back. Rin was not there. He immediately jumped toward the spot where the water looked disturbed. He dove down, wrapped around her waist, sprinted up and landed on the bedrock.

He scanned her body to make sure she wasn't hurt anywhere. His eyes widened. The image of her bare skin hit him like a tsunami, flushing energetically through every cell in his body.

Rin blushed a dark shade of red. She flopped into him, shielding her bosoms with the wall of her arms from his body, and hid her face deep into his chest.

And shortly after that, it seemed as if Rin was bewitched. She closed her eyes and moved her lips toward the curve of his neck. She moaned softly as her lips touched his skin.

His body tightened. He folded his arms around her and pulled her closer. He threaded his fingers through her hair to tilt her head back slightly. And by some instinctive instruction, he lowered his lips toward hers.

Suddenly, she lowered her lips away from his kiss and pushed her face deep into his chest.

She whispered, "Sesshomaru-sama, something's wrong with me. What's wrong with me?"

At the moment, her scent was more than addictive. it was seductively addictive to him.

"I - I don't know," he whispered with a weak broken tone.

He was answering her, and also answering to his own confusion as he felt himself transforming into his true form but unable to control it.

It was slowly overtaking him against his will.

His claws were flexing out, threatening to rip into her skin. His fangs grew, telling him to throw her on the bedrock and bore into the back of her neck. His blood raged with intense energy flowing to the more intimate part of his body. And it was rising to a magnitude that might be unmanageable by a human.

He widened his eyes that had already turned red.

 _'Why am I unable to control my transformation? What is the meaning of this? NOOOO!'_

….

 **Note to the wonderful reviewers.**

Mia Montes: Gracias Mia. I put your review in google translate and I think I understood it correctly. Thank you so much for your review and support. It is very motivating to me.

Skylark: Thank you so much for your review. It is very motivating to me. And You made me aware of how Rin is not showing any romantic feeling yet. I have no idea why, but I always assume that Rin is in love with Seshomaru naturally. So, I am picking up the pace in this chapter. I planned on it being a bit slower, but well, heck why not sooner. And I think the same way with you regarding this pair. I think they are selfless too. I think their love is unconditional. And I watched this anime a while back and still in love with Rin and Sesshomaru. I am very glad there are still people like you who remember them and read about them. And I wish more people write stories about them. I am so childish in the way that I want my favorite pair to have the most stories written for them. Thank you so much.

SorrellKaren: Thank you so much for your generous reviews, which are extremely motivating to me. I was trying to revise my previous chapters because having read a few tips on writing, I realized the previous chapters were so unnecessarily wordy, so I was trying to shorten them before I post new ones. But after your generous reviews, I felt energized, and so I am revising and posting new ones too.

And I thank you so much about the comment about Rin's scent. I think it is her sweetness that draws him to her, and it has to be expressed through her scent.

And Rin does not fall for Kohaku. Like you, I don't like Rin/Kohaku pairing, and I don't like Rin/AnyoneElseBesidesSesshomaru pairing. I think only Sesshomaru is good enough for Rin.

And I'm sorry that this chapter might not be satisfying in terms of love confession. Something goes terribly wrong for Sesshomaru. I hope you forgive me or this.

And I understand what you mean by the story being ridiculous. I try not to be, but there are some ideas that have to little bit wild to make our favorite characters be end up where we want them, because I feel so dissatisfied with how the series ends regarding Sesshomaru and Rin. I mean at least, they could make a scene where Sesshomaru and Rin stand in field of flowers with him just staring at her, that would be more satisfying than how they ended it. So, I might have to get a little wild to make my own ending possible. But since it's a fantasy, I hope I don't get too unrealistically wild. If so, please let me know. We can tweak it a little.

And thank you for the advice on names. I did a search for Japanese names and I am using them. I would love to be able to come up with names like Sesshomaru, but it seems too difficult. So, we will make do.


	10. Bloodline

**...**

 **...**

 **Chapter 10: Bloodline  
**  
At the same time when Rin and Seshomaru were in the sakura forest, Hasu and Takashi arrived at a village in the southeastern region,

Hasu, in the appearance of Aika, limped across the shrine courtyard with a gaping wound on her waist.

"Please help me!" Hasu screamed weakly.

A priestess opened the shrine door and ran toward Hasu.

"Please help me, priestess," Hasu whimpered.

The priestess supported her from falling.

"My lady, what happened?" asked the priestess.

Hasu looked up. Her eyes shined a light into the priestess's eyes, rendering the latter immobile.

Hasu's wound started to heal as she playfully said, "Nothing happened, priestess. I merely want to borrow your Shoheki Star to release the Rainbow Phoenix."

Behind them, Takashi came out from the shrine with the gold object in the shape of a ring with seven golden phoenix feathers spread evenly around the outer edge. Takashi made eye contact with Hasu before he sped away.

Hasu smirked.

She turned back to the immobile priestess and caressed her face, "Tch! Tch! Tch! Such beauty! It's a pity you humans cannot sustain this beauty but just a few years."

Hasu heard footsteps approaching from behind her. She glanced back briefly, smirked, and continued to taunt the priestess.

"Don't worry, priestess. My spell is benign and will soon dispel itself. I only want to release the Rainbow Phoenix to protect the humans. Isn't that what you humans wanted? Why do you keep it sealed?"

An arrow swooshed toward Hasu from behind. She dissipated, reformed herself in the air, and glided away on her petals.

As Hasu dissipated, the arrow targeted at her pierced into the heart of the immobile priestess. On her petals, Hasu looked back and laughed victoriously.

 _'Ohh! Death has begun.'_

And the mourning cry from the shrine guard who shot the arrow reverberated through the village.

"NO, PRIESTESS!"

...

In the sakura forest.

 _'NO. It shouldn't be this way. What is happening to me?'_

Unsuccessfully resisting his violent arousal, Sesshomaru pushed Rin away and dashed to the grassy field outside the forest where the transformation finally took over as his true form rose high into the air with a deep growl.

Rin's scent should have been farther away, but he could sense it stronger than ever.

A sudden burning sensation spread through his body. His mental clarity started to slip, giving way to his carnal desire which pressed him to go back for Rin.

He leapt up to make his way back when Lady Hikari landed and appeared amid a smokey bloom in front of him.

He jumped back and landed at a safe distance. He was defenseless against her attacks having learned from being disciplined by her a few times when he was younger. A mother from the Osaka clan was immune to her children's power, but they were not immune to hers.

She hurled a luminous pink whip toward him. It divided into four branches and tightened around his four limbs.

As the whip lifted and pulled him toward her, she released another whip which fanned out and hit across his cheek sending him to the ground.

She sent several streams of pink miasma, causing several wounds on his body.

He yelped in pain, but his mental clarity started to come back, and his carnal desire slowly faded away.

Lady Hikari continued to send more miasma streams at him.

When he yelped louder, she jetted into the air and landed close to him, at the moment, in his human form.

He had planted the Baksaiga on the ground and leaned on it. He was barely able to stay on his knees. There were gaping wounds on his body and blood spots scattering on the ground and on his kimono. His legs and arms were still chained by her whips.

She raised her hand to send another whip at him.

"That's enough, mother," he spoke in a weak tone afflicted with pain.

"Hmm!" she smirked playfully at him, "That was quite entertaining, Sesshomaru."

"Hmph!"

He was still on his knees, in silence.

"Sesshomaru, your first physical pursuit is violent. Only a female of pure Inu bloodline can withstand to receive your first seed. It is your blood's natural way to select its mate to pass on its purity."

There was no answer.

She withdrew the whips from his limbs.

He stood up slowly and grunted in pain. He pushed harder on the Baksaiga to support himself.

Lady Hikari approached him with a gleam of sympathy. Sesshomaru could not heal his wounds caused by her. He would have to suffer the pain of her discipline until she decided it had served its purpose.

She raised her hand and started to release a stream of energy to heal him.

"Leave it, mother."

"Hmph!" she pouted. "If you refuse my kindness, then I don't care."

"I - I need the pain."

"Hmph!"

What his mother just said was indeed true. His arousal was violent. If Rin went through with their union, she would surely be injured.

But then what?

He frowned.

She chuckled playfully, "After the first time, you will be able to control yourself."

"However - " he hesitated.

"Perhaps, you are more like your father than I thought. You have chosen to love."

"Do you intend to stop me?"

"It is none of my concern what you choose. However, you must understand that the human girl shall die by the violent nature of your first physical union."

A brief silence ensued.

"Does she choose you?"

He did not answer.

"If my son has forsaken his duty as an Inu demon and has chosen to love a human girl, then being the second is but a small sacrifice for her to make."

"Rin will not be second to anyone, even to myself."

"Hmph. I was wrong. You are not like your father. You are worse than your father."

Suddenly, they both glanced at the entrance of the sakura forest where Rin was standing and looking lost.  
Lady Hikari started to transform into a pink light orb.

"Mother," Sesshomaru said.

"Yes."

"Stay close to me, but do not reveal yourself too carelessly."

"Hmph!"

She smirked as she completed the transformation and flew away.

Sesshomaru could no longer resist the painful wounds. He lost consciousness and fell down as Ah-Un roared and flew from his spot on the mountain side toward him.

...

Note:

sorrellkaren: Thank you so much for your review. I am happy (yay) that there are still people like me and you who love this pair. I think they should reshow this show to give people who have not seen this show before a chance to see it. I think it will be loved all over again. I think. Sorry about the last chapter. I think Sesshomaru can't have Rin just yet until he really really shows her he loves her unconditionally. He is going to have to prove it. lol


	11. Rin Becoming a Woman

**...**

 **...**

 **Chapter 11: Rin Becoming A Woman**

Sesshomaru's consciousness slowly came back but faded again. It fluctuated back and forth, pulling him between dreams and reality.

The pain had not subsided. He was nude from the waist up, reclining partly on his mokomoko and partly in someone's arms. There were bandages wrapping around his body, and the wounds had stopped bleeding.

The scent around him was euphoric like that of Rin's, but it seemed ten times stronger.

"Sesshomaru-sama."

A sweet voice was calling his name. He answered her, but she seemed oblivious to it.

A gentle hand ran through his hair then caressed his cheek. A pair of lips softly touched his lips with its sweet scent infiltrating his breaths.

"Sesshomaru-sama."

The sound of his name entered his ears followed by a stream of words softly spoken. It was hard to make out what was said or who was saying it. He concentrated all his energy to his sense of hearing.

It was Rin. It Was Rin's voice. It sounded like it was from a distance, reverberating in the air, like a dream.

"Sesshomaru-sama, please be alright. My life will be empty without you. My journey into the future will be a lonely path…"

She nuzzled his cheek while her hand traced the stripes on the other cheek. The sensation of her caress pulled him toward the feeling of being touched, and parts of what she was saying became blurry. Her voice came and went intermittently.

"... I have been waiting for you. I wait for your loving words, but you never say it. Your warm embrace, but you never gave it.."

What!? It was HER choice, not his.

He tried to muster his power to regain consciousness. He must dispute what she just said. He was the one who had been waiting for her. He should have let his mother heal him. But then again, it might have been a good thing that he didn't let her.

"... I know a little weak human girl like me is just not worthy of your love…."

Not worthy? Rin should never think she was not worthy. She was worthy of his life, not just his love.

His body tensed up. He tried to push all the power toward those wounds to heal them. But even with the last trace of his strength, his effort was fruitless.

The rest of what she was saying was becoming blurry. As if she knew he couldn't hear her clearly, she pressed closer to his ears and whispered, "In that forest, in your arms, my body felt weakened by your embrace. I know what it is. It is the physical attraction toward the person I love. I'm becoming a woman, Sesshomaru-sama. And I am in love with you."

It was an reassuring sentence to hear before he slipped back into unconsciousness.

...

 **Chitchatting time ^^**

sorrellkaren: I so want more of those two too, that's why I'm writing fanfics ^^. I am definitely buying this series but I couldn't decide if I want the English version or the Japanese version. I love the Japanese voice of Sesshomaru and Rin but I have to read subtitles LOL. Still deciding. Thank you so much for your reviews. I hope you have a great week.

Guest: Thank you so much for your review.


	12. Sesshomaru's Love Confession

...

...

 **Note: I changed chapter 11 a little bit. To make sense of this chapter, it might help to know that in the last chapter, Sesshomaru could hear Rin talking to him. Thank you for your patience with this story.**

 **Chapter 12: Sesshomaru's Love Confession**

The next day was another sunny cool autumn day.

It was late morning when Hasu finished her chirography class. She was standing in her yard waving the kids goodbye when Rin walked down the village path with her head lowered to the ground. When Rin passed her and had gone off a short distance, Hasu silently followed.

Rin stopped by a bamboo hut and went inside. When Rin came outside with two little kids, the kids hugged Rin and and ran off, skipping down the path, giggling.

"We love you, Rin-sama," they screamed at Rin.

"I love you too. Be careful now." Rin smiled.

Rin turned around. "Oh! Good morning, Aika-sama."

"Oh, good morning, Rin. What are you doing here?"

After Rin told Aika about the orphan kids, Gozu and Mezu, who she had been helping, Hasu smiled, "You are an angel."

' _Hm, it would be easier to get to Sesshomaru if I have her skin.'_ Hasu gleamed. ' _I love easy prey.'_

Hasu walked toward the door behind Rin and pretended to look inside. Hasu reached out a hand to draw energy from Rin's head. Rin's knowledge and memories started to flash through Hasu's mind, but Hasu suddenly withdrew her hand and stopped the process.

Rin held her head and frowned, looking puzzled but seemed to quickly forget about it.

' _She's in love with Sesshomaru. But why did he transform at the moment of their union? Hmmm.'_

"Rin, I think you should send these kids to my class. It's good for their future," said Hasu.

"I've thought about it, but we don't have enough to pay the fees right now. They're making weed baskets to start selling them. Maybe until then -"

"Don't worry about the fee."

"But I - "

"If you're reluctant because of the fee, then we can make a fair deal. If you help me with my flower garden, then the class fee is taken care of. Hah?"

"Really? That's so kind of you."

"Let's start tomorrow. Send the kids to me at sunrise."

"Yes. Thank you, Aika-sama. I will come to see your garden by mid or late afternoon today when I finish with my garden. I'll see what I can do."

"Perfect-tion. I will see you later."

"Have a good day, Aika-sama."

Hasu grinned as she walked away. "You too, Rin."

….

At Kaede's place.

Sesshomaru's senses came slowly back and became clear.

He opened his eyes and scanned around. It was Rin's room. He was lying on Rin's bed. Rin's scent pervaded the place. He had never been inside a human home, but at the moment he was quite pleased.

He was nude from the the waist up, and his body was bandaged. His kimono was missing.

Rin's loving words rang in his ears. Though, he was teetering between dreams and reality, and those words had been what he was waiting to hear, so it might have been a figment of his imagination while he was unconscious.

But him pushing Rin away in the sakura forest certainly did happen.

He quickly sat up. With some effort, he got up and went out to look for Rin. He struggled a little walking because of the pain. When he got to the end of Inuyasha's, Kagome ran out and tried to support him.

He put up his hand to signal for her to stop. "I am fine."

Kaede came out to hand him his kimono. "Lord Sesshomaru, Rin had washed it last night, and it is dry now."

He took it from Kaede and gazed gently at her. He put it on and continued walking down the path.

"Sesshomaru," Inuyasha called him.

He stopped and glanced back.

"You're alright?"

Sesshomaru nodded and resumed walking.

He arrived at Rin's garden.

"Rin."

She turned around with a happy frown on her face.

He glanced at her frown and then at her bandaged hand. The girl was injured, yet she was still working. His muscle tensed up, making the pain from his wounds intensify. He staggered slightly.

Rin ran to him and held his arms.

"Sesshomaru-sama. You should stay in bed. I'm sorry for not staying home to take care of you. I just have these chores to do, but I'll hurry and be home soon."

She tugged on his arms, trying to lead him to a tree.

He didn't follow her lead. Instead, he held her hand and brought it closer to him. He scanned her wound and frowned subtly.

She started blushing.

He circled his arms around her and gently pulled her into a tight embrace.

She tried to loosen herself from him.

"You are displeased with me holding you," he asked her.

"Sesshomaru-sama, I'm just afraid to cause you more pain if I press on your wounds."

"If my pain is the only thing you are worried about, then don't worry. Stay in my arms, Rin."

Rin whispered, "Yes, Sesshomaru-sama."

She rested her head against his chest.

Her scent was mixed with a touch of sadness. He gazed downward at her. She must be hurt because he had pushed her away. She should know why. It might not make her completely happy, but it might help ease her sadness.

"Rin. I was unable to control my transformation when I felt the passion between you and me in the forest. If mother didn't come to discipline me in time, I would have taken you in my true form, and that would have killed you."

Rin pushed deeper into his chest. He groaned softly from pain. Rin abruptly looked up, "Sorry, Sesshomaru-sama."

"It's alright, Rin. I need the pain for now when I am close to you."

"But that would mean you will avoid me, will you?"

"At times, I might need to."

She threw her arms around him and squeezed tighter, apparently forgetting about his pain. She whispered, "Sesshomaru-sama. I don't want you to stay away from me. I would die for you."

A surge of energy rushed through him.

"Don't say such silly things. Be patient with me, Rin. I shall find a way."

He refrained from making any sounds that could make her think he was in pain. Her embrace was what he needed. Pain was no issue. The real problem was they could never go into a union, unless she came second. And she would not be second to anyone in his world.

A moment of silence ensued.

His mother had said that he had chosen to love. Love was not something he was familiar with, but his feelings for Rin were unique. Those must be what mother was talking about. It must be love.

He had held back because he was afraid Rin would find him distasteful if he had revealed his feelings to her. He did it because he was greedy for her love, longed to be chosen by her, wanted to be her idol. It was all done because of himself. It had inadvertently made her think she was unworthy. Whether her words from the night before were just his imagination or were genuinely spoken by her, there was a strong possibility that Rin would feel that way.

He had been selfish.

She deserved to know.

He broke his silence.

"I love you, Rin, more than even my life. And if you don't wish to travel with me, I'll stay in this human village with you - that is if you allow me so."

"Sesshomaru-sama," Rin quivered.

She tried to say something else, but she was stuttering a little. So, she stopped and remained silent. Her tears started to dampen his chest, but it was happiness. Her scent became even more pleasant.

They stayed in that position for some time in silence until Jaken showed up in a dramatic arrival. Sesshomaru sent him away, telling him to go back to Kaede's and tidy up Rin's room. Jaken pouted but left as instructed.

Sesshomaru told Rin she should go back to her work, which she agreed with a nod and a bright smile.

He followed her. He knelt down with her and pulled up the exact plants she was pulling up. Sometimes when he pulled the wrong ones, she giggled and he frowned. He helped her fetch the water from the creek and then put up the tools.

When they were done, Rin giggled. "Sesshomaru-sama, I think you're the best gardener in the whole wide world."

He threw her a chastising glance. "You shall be punished for mocking Sesshomaru."

Rin ran to Ah-Un and took off with him.

"You'll have to catch me first." She zipped away with Ah-Un.

Sesshomaru ascended and drifted behind her. Downwind from Rin, her scent was always stronger, and the happiness from her mood at the current moment made it all worthwhile that Sesshomaru had shed his pride and confessed his love. He should have told her much sooner. His pride should have never been a factor when it came to his Rin.

...

sorrelkaren: Thank you for your review. You have been so kind to me by reviewing so generously. It really really helps motivate me. I must say that SessRin are my two most favorite characters in the whole anime, so I kinda pick and choose the episodes with them when I rewatch lol. The final act did look so much better. And sorry about the late update. I have been revising the whole story, so I haven't updated. But I'm done revising now, so I have time for new chapters. ^^


	13. Learning To Love The Human Way

…

...

 **Chapter 13:** ** **Learning To Love The Human Way****

On their way home, Rin stopped to visit her adoptive children with a bag of fruit she had harvested. She introduced them to Sesshomaru. The children hugged him. He gazed at their crowns briefly them lowered himself to return their hugs.

He glanced at Rin during the hug, and she grinned at him.

A little short distance from the hut, Rin stopped by another house. Aika came out to greet Rin and bowed to Sesshomaru. He gazed at Aika briefly then made a bow in return. Rin again grinned at him.

Rin went inside with Aika for some time. He stood outside and waited.

Then, they stopped by the market. The evening crowd was bustling with activities. People were laughing, yelling, running toward each other for short chats or greetings.

Lots of people greeted Rin and him. Rin smiled and waved back when their distance was far or greeted them when they were closer. He returned their greetings or waved at them just like Rin did. And Rin grinned.

Sesshomaru mimicked Rin's actions almost to the exact details. But when a few young guys approached and greeted Rin with a cool smile and winking eyes and Rin smiled and returned their greetings, Sesshomaru stepped closer so to almost be in between Rin and the guys and stared them down with his golden glares, which action sent those guys scurrying off real quick.

Rin blushed. She tugged on Sesshomaru's sleeve and hid her face into his shoulder. And in that fashion, Rin walked down the walkway between the line of the tables displaying sale products.

Midway through, Rin left his shoulder and stepped toward a table displaying various school items. She started to fiddle around looking for what she wanted.

Sesshomaru followed and stood beside Rin. He looked around. There were many couples holding hands as they strolled by, and the guys were always the ones carrying the bags from their shopping trips.

When Rin was done, she told him that she was ready to go home. He reached down and took the newly obtained bag in Rin's hand. With the other hand still free, he took Rin's hand and wove his fingers in between hers.

Rin let her fingers weave comfortably inside his. She smiled and lowered her head a little and started to twist her hair.

Doing what the humans do seemed to please her. But the humans could only walk. Sesshomaru took it up a notch, literally, as he ascended into the air, producing a platform of pink cloud for her to stand on.

The market people down below were awwing and oohing, yelling goodbye after them, even whistling at them.

Rin blushed so obviously that her face turned ten shades red. She moved Sesshomaru's arm around her shoulder and hid her face deep deep into his chest. She was hopeless in hiding her shy happiness though because her scent at that moment had risen so high it was almost heaven.

When they got home, Sesshomaru carried the harvested bag and the shopping bag into the house for Rin.

There was an old map spreading on the table where Kaede and Rin used for mixing medicine from the herbs. He stopped and scanned through the various symbols imprinted on it. A symbol of a three headed serpent jumped out at him. It looked faded compared to the other more colorful ones.

He studied the map.

There were different symbols, colorful or faded, scattering everywhere: a red rose, a white lotus, other flowers, various mountains, weapons, animals in monstrous forms, 7 baby Phoenixes painted with a different color that made up the rainbow spectrum, and many other unrecognizable symbols. There was also a symbol of a Sakura tree which was in the exact location where Rin and he were at the other night.

He narrowed his eyes and took a good mental image of the map.

….

Late evening that day, Hasu stood beside Takashi above her lake. Takashi took out the Shoheki Star and loosened his hold on it.

The object floated in midair. One of the phoenix feathers on it started to glow red. It spun around until the red feather pointed to a certain direction, and the Star zipped toward that direction.

"Let's go, Takashi."

Hasu stepped on her flashing lotus path following the Shoheki Star.

Takashi followed.

The Star stopped somewhere not far from Kaede's village. The glowing red feather detached itself and flew forward. It pierced into an appearing red barrier and dissolved it.

In the middle stood an altar holding a small statue of a red baby phoenix made of Ruby.

Hasu walked toward the statue. Suddenly, two winged rabbits flew out from behind the altar and raised their bows at her. They were round like two flying fur balls with ears so long they had to keep blowing air from their mouth on their ears to keep them from draping over their faces.

Their voice was chirpy like chipmunks. "Leave this place or we'll shoot."

Hasu jerked her head back. She chuckled and moved toward them. She gently reached for them when they shot two arrows into her chest. She fell backward and yelped softly. She couldn't move.

The rabbit demons flew toward the baby phoenix statue. When they were about to pick it up, a stream of black light hit them, sending them flying a long distance away from the altar. Takashi leapt from behind the light stream and snatched the statue. He then picked Hasu up and sped away.

…

At Kaede's place, Sesshomaru stood in front of Kaede's watching Rin play tag with Miroku's kids after she had finished her evening chores. When Rin was tired, she stopped. The kids moved on to Jaken, who dashed from one end of the yard to another to run away from them, but that was the exact objective of the game.

The gang told Rin that Totosai came to visit the night before and Kohaku had left with him to go back to his training. Rin lowered her head with furrowed brows.

Sesshomaru frowned. He approached Rin, slowly took her hand, and led her to their bedroom.

He laid Rin down and lay down on his side beside her. He raised his head up with a bent arm, and he started to caress her cheek.

"Do you think of me when I'm not by your side?" he asked.

Rin reached up and traced the lines of his lips, her eyes glazed with tenderness.

She smiled. "I think of you even when you're here, Sesshomaru-sama."

A rush of tender energy suddenly flooded through him.

He was disciplined and strong. But the rush of that energy overtook him, perhaps, because it felt so peaceful yet exciting with a strange pleasure that he didn't put up his guard.

Or perhaps, there was no way to guard against it.

He lowered his lips and engaged Rin in a passionate kiss.

The tender feeling intensified. It weakened him both physically and mentally and manifested itself into a soft moan and a long amorous sigh.

Rin's actions were almost identical. Her hold on his neck was even tighter.

Curse it.

Sesshomaru jolted backward and sat up abruptly.

"I must leave. Sleep well, Rin."

Giving her no time to reply, he dashed through the window and jetted to the woods. He found a tree and sat down, leaning against its trunk.

He closed his eyes and concentrated his power trying to heal the wounds from mother which caused him even more pain, but the pain helped distract him from his impending arousal.

He opened his eyes.

In front of him, a garden of lotuses spread on the dry ground of that woods.

His eyes narrowed.

...

to Guest and 677: thank you so much for your reviews. I really really do appreciate it.

to sorrelkaren: First, thank you for your review with lots and lots of appreciation. And then. Thank you for your comment. I think Sesshomaru is passionate in everything he got his mind set on, like the Tetsaiga and the hunt for Naraku. Rin being the most important, I think he would definitely be a passionate lover, even more intense than his hunt for the Tetsaiga and Naraku. I think so, and I'm glad you think so too ^^.


	14. The Guardians of the Rainbow Phoenix

**A/N:  
**

Last chapter summary: Hasu and Takashi used the Shoheki Star to take the Red Baby Phoenix statue, injuring the fur ball guardians of the barrier that hides the statue. Sesshomaru noticed a map with various symbols on Kaede's desk. Rin and Sesshomaru kissed in their bedroom, but Sesshomaru left aburptly to the woods.

...

 **Chapter 14: The Guardians of the Rainbow Phoenix  
**

As soon as a small arc of the sun rose over the horizon the morning after, Sesshomaru walked back to Kaede's.

The place was quiet.

Rin's window was closed, so was the front door, but Rin's scent on the front yard was afresh, leading down the village path.

Following the scent trail, Sesshomaru arrived at the hut where Rin's adoptive children lived.

The place reeked with the scent of Rin's blood and some strange demons.

Immediately pushing the door down, Sesshomaru stormed inside.

Gozu and Mezu lay immobile on the floor. As soon as they saw him, their eyes it up, but they were unable to speak.

A flying fur ball jetted from the floor up to the level of Sesshomaru's face. It wings flapped incessantly, keeping it afloat, while it was puffing air towards its unnaturally long ears to keep them from covering its face.

The fur creature aimed an arrow at Sesshomaru. "Go away or I'll shoot you."

Taking only a brief moment studying the creature, Sesshomaru raised his hand, flexing his claws.

"No, Sesshomaru-sama, please don't hurt him," Rin voice came from behind the flying fur ball.

Sesshomaru striked the fur ball lightly, sending it teetering a little to the side.

Rin came into view, sitting with her back leaning against the wall, her arm stretching out. Another similar fur ball, looked to be injured, was latching on her arm, sucking on her blood.

Sesshomaru dispatched his whip, hurling it toward at the fur ball on Rin's arm. The blood sucking creature split in two halves, both thudding on the floor, lifeless.

The other fur ball retaliated, shooting an arrow at Sesshomaru.

Rin lunged forward, shielding Sesshomaru from the arrow which then pierced into her back.

"RIN!" Sesshomaru screamed. His arms coiling around Rin's waist, he made a circling maneuver to put Rin in between him and the fur ball.

His gaze darted briskly all over her body. Seeing no wounds anywhere on her, he knitted his brows.

With sparkling eyes, Rin smiled at him. "I'm alright. They can't hurt me."

"How?"

"I don't know. They just can't. But will you please revive him, Sesshomaru-sama." Rin pointed at the halves of the dead fur ball on the floor.

Sesshomaru turned and unsheathed the Tenseiga. The other creature got in front of him, raising its bow again, sending pouting and moist glares at Sesshomaru.

"Step aside," Sesshomaru commanded.

"Don't hurt my Bani or I'll shoot," returned the fur ball.

"Your Bani is dead," said Sesshomaru. "Now, step aside."

"It's OK. Sesshomaru-sama will revive Bani for us." Rin walked toward the fur ball and held its bow down." Just step aside like he said."

The creature obeyed Rin.

Sesshomaru revived Bani.

The latter woke up shortly after, wiping his eyes. "Ouch. That hurts a little bit."

The other fur ball flew up to Bani. They held hands and air-danced in circles, chirping unintelligibly, their wings flapping frenziedly.

"Hato, I'm completely healed!"

"Yeah." Hato giggled like a baby giggling. He pointed at Sesshomaru and the Tenseiga. "He healed you with that sword, Bani."

Bani zipped toward Sesshomaru. "Thank you, he dog demon." After the appreciation completed, Bani latched onto the Tenseiga and hugged it.

Rin giggled. "His name is Sesshomaru."

"Now, get off the sword," Sesshomaru said.

Bani jerked away from the sword at the command, flapping his way back to Hato's side.

"Who are you? And how is it that you cannot hurt Rin?" asked Sesshomaru.

"We are bat demons, the guardians of the Rainbow Phoenix. We can't hurt Lady Rin because she had no malice against us when we tried to hurt her. So our arrows have no power against her."

' _Hmph! How interesting?'_

"I was injured last night by someone who came to steal the red baby phoenix statue. We fled to this house and met these kids and Lady Rin." Bani pointed at Rin. "I was injured and needed blood. Lady Rin let me suck her blood."

"You look like cute rabbits," said Rin after she inspected them more thoroughly.

"We are half and half, Lady Rin. We refer to ourselves as bats. But for you, you can call us whatever you want to because you're our new master."

"Master?!" Rin wrinkled her nose and knitted her brows along with a doubtful grin.

Hato started to play with Rin's hair, tangling it with his active hands and wings. Rin caught Hato and pretended to discipline him by stroking his ears. He giggled, his legs swinging back and forth while his ears were being stroked.

"What is the Rainbow Phoenix?" asked Sesshomaru.

"It's a legendary bird. Whoever has the power to conjure it will have its protection for all humans in his house from all harms caused by any weapons of this world."

"There are 7 baby phoenixes. When they unite, they will have the power to call upon the Rainbow Phoenix."

"Some powerful demon is breaking down our barriers and stealing our baby phoenixes. We must go to the other barriers and warn the guardians there."

Rin walked toward Gozu and Mezu and knelt down beside them, touching their heads.

"They will be back to normal in a day or two, Lady Rin. Unless in dire situations, we only immobilize our enemies long enough for us to flee and relocate our phoenixes."

"Oh," said Rin.

"We must get going now. Thank you again, Sesshomaru-sama and Lady Rin."

"Be careful you two. Sesshomaru-sama can't revive you the second time."

After Hato and Bani were gone, with a chastising tone, Sesshomaru said, "Rin, you cannot let anyone do harmful things to you."

"But that's what you do. You put your life in all kinds of harm to protect me. There were times you walked into death traps for my life."

"I'm stronger than you, Rin."

 _'And because it's you, Rin.'  
_

"I might not be strong, but I could still use whatever power I have to do what I could to help others."

The girl, as gentle as she was, was obstinate when she had her mind set on saving someone's life. And she didn't seem to discriminate against anyone when she tried to help them, cute fur balls or terrible looking dog demons.

After all, when they first met, he displayed his monstrous red eyes and his fangs along with a threatening growl. It didn't faze her. She was determined to nurse him back to health. Then she went on and tried to save others risking her own life in the process. He had to rescue her during her own rescuing missions.

Destiny must have set it up so she could meet him. He was the only one with enough power - and ironically patience - to pull her out of the troubles from her life saving antics.

But the more people she saved, the more euphoric her scent became.

Sesshomaru sat down beside Rin next to her kids who were another example of her life saving missions.

Cradling Rin onto his lap, he spread his mokomoko on the floor and smoothed out the wrinkles. "Lie down and rest your head on my lap, Rin. We'll stay here until the kids regain their mobility."

Rin fell asleep shortly after she lay down.

He stroke her hair gently.

She must have been tired from all the recent confusing events. She might not even have slept well the night before after he abruptly sped away during their kiss.

...

To the generous people who had reviewed.

To 677: Thank you so much for your review. There is a big problem with them uniting, so it might take me take me a little while to take the story to that point. I hope you stay with me.

To sorrellkaren: oh ok I will pm you. thank you so much for allowing that. I am very shy and don't want to bother people who reviewed but only say thanks to them here. But beware, I'm a chatterbox when it comes to Rin and Sesshomaru and Inuyasha as a series. So you got your warnings.


	15. Uekya's Roses

**A/N :** Last chapter summary: Sesshomaru and Rin meet Hato and Bani, two bat demons, and learn about the Rainbow Phoenix.

to 677: You are so sweet. Thank you so much for supporting me with your reviews and supporting all SessRin authors with your reviews.

to sorrellKaren: thank you so much for your reviews.

* * *

 **Chapter 15: Uekya's Roses  
**

On the eastern shore, the ocean drained into an estuary, flowing into a large river that cut westward through a large forest.

Along one of the riverbanks, Sesshomaru stood, studying a large garden of unnaturally large red roses in a round clearing amid the forest.

There might have been thousands of them.

Two tall semicircle tombstones stood side by side in the center, draped by crawling vines full of red miniature roses.

At the foot of the roses were piles after piles of skeletal remains.

Two days ago, after coming home with Rin from her children's place, Rin started on her evening chores.

Watching Rin do her chores had recently become Sesshomaru's favorite pastime. So while Sesshomaru stood idly watching her cook, he glanced over the map on Kaede's desk again.

It was a curious piece of parchment.

He figured as much that it was a map of places hidden inside barriers of various means. He had come across one of them with the three headed serpent whose symbol had faded on the map.

Three of the seven phoenix symbols had also faded which was not a surprise since Hato and Bani had said that someone had been attacking them for those statues.

Sesshomaru wasn't interested in the Phoenix. It was to protect the humans, not something he would go fight to obtain. He was more than capable of protecting Rin.

The symbol of the rose, however, stood out. It was faded at one point, but when he looked again, the symbol had refreshed to its previous colorful state.

Someone must have access to it and was accessing it.

But for what.

What power lay behind that barrier.

A day ago, he visited the location. Nothing was there, just a stretch of forestland.

He had revisited the location a few times for two days.

Finally, at the moment, there stood the rose garden. Judging by the skeletal remains, something monstrous must lay hidden, waiting for preys.

Roses. What power could the roses have?

Perhaps the secret lay in the two tombstones. Perhaps some monsters laying in those tombstones were trying to revive themselves by absorbing live beings.

Stepping leisurely toward the garden, he focused on his senses to detect anything of suspicious nature. At least, someone was there to dissolve that barrier, but the scent of thousands of roses had masked him or her from Sesshomaru's detection.

Unfazed by the possible danger, Sesshomaru continued.

A gentle breeze swept his hair forward. Glancing back, he raised his hand, hurling his whip at the origin of the breeze.

A white shadow flipped into the air above, landing in a form of lady with a visible shimmering aura.

She crouched down in front of him with her head facing the ground, one hand clasping her chest. "Lord Sesshomaru, it's my honor."

Narrowing his eyes, Sesshomaru stood emotionless, silent.

The lady stood up. Approaching him, her eyes gleamed, a sparkle of light appearing behind her lenses, gazing into his eyes.

A bolt of blinding light exploded in Sesshomaru's brain, but vanished almost instantly.

' _Hmph.'_

Unaffected, Sesshomaru smiled subtly. "Perhaps, you should try that trick on someone else," said Sesshomaru.

She chuckled. "Of course. You're too powerful for a girl like me."

Turning around, Sesshomaru started to walk away when her hand touched his shoulder, holding him back.

"Do you not wonder what power is hidden in this garden?"

"I care not."

Coldly removing her hand from his shoulder, Sesshomaru continued to walk away.

"Perhaps it's the treasure you have been looking for. Hm. You should pick a rose from this garden as a gift for your human lover."

Sesshomaru halted.

Many demons knew of him, but none knew he had unique feelings for a human, except his mother. The one other demon who suspected it had been destroyed 8 years ago. Perhaps, the lady was somehow related to either Naraku or his mother.

Both possibilities were ridiculous.

"The reason?" asked Sesshomaru.

"Oh, girls naturally love roses," answered the lady after a short girlish chuckle. "And these roses may give her a long life, possibly even longer than yours."

Sesshomaru immediately lifted his brows. Turning around to face her, he narrowed his eyes, partly veiling the curious gleam behind his golden irish. "What manner of roses are these?"

"Hmh?" The lady was looking into the distance. "Oh, these roses grew from the heart of my ancestor, the great tree demon, Uekya-sama."

' _Tree demon, Uekya-sama?'_

"So those tombstones."

"They are the tombstones of Uekya-sama and his human lover, princess Aikabara."

' _Human lover?'_

Sesshomaru lifted his brows and shot a curious glance at the lady speaking to him.

She was pensive, looking at a murmuration of starlings whirling above the water over the horizon. "Hmm. Those starlings, they will never be lonely."

Sesshomaru turned his eyes on the gray curtain of starlings.

There was a long moment of silence between the two. They both stood still, watching the starlings' elegant dance like a ribbon twisting and rolling fluidly against the colorful backdrop by the landscape. The flock of starlings, soaring side by side, formed and transformed into shapes to be discerned only by the beholders.

Loneliness was not something Sesshomaru had thought about. He used to tread the terrain by himself and didn't really see any problems with it.

When Jaken tagged along, the imp disturbed Sesshomaru's peace somewhat, but somewhat Sesshomaru treasured it. Despite the fact that Jaken, most of the time, was a disruptive companion, Sesshomaru had gladly saved and protected Jaken many times over.

And then, Rin came along.

She brought her smile.

Her scent.

Her question.

" _ **Say, Sesshomaru-sama, I was just wondering, if I died one day, would you… would you always remember me?"**_

Rin's question stabbed his heart, when it was spoken and, at the moment, from the memory of it.

Sesshomaru had not spent time contemplating on whether he would remember Rin forever or not.

What would be the point of that.

How would it benefit Rin?

The contemplation, since the realization that the Tenseiga could no longer resurrect Rin, was how to prevent her death. Protecting her from dangers was not enough. At some point, she would fade by the ruthlessly persistent hand of time.

The feel of Rin's lifeless body in his arms had invoked an emotion or two that he didn't want to experience a second time. He would give up everything to avoid holding Rin in that state again.

Suppose there was a fountain of youth on Houraijima Island where the four War Gods resided, but ever since Inuyasha defeated the four War Gods, the island had never appeared again.

Having a horde of lowly demons residing in Rin's body to make her a hanyou like Naraku, at the moment, would be the last resort. However, Sesshomaru would consider it if need be.

As the starlings flew farther away, Sesshomaru broke the silence, "How did your ancestors pass away?"

The lady beside him wiped her hand across her eyes momentarily. "As a human, the princess passed away from old age. Uekya-sama —"

Her words trailed off. She fell on her knees with hands covering her face, sobbing softly.

After gazing at the lady crouching in silent tears, Sesshomaru raised his sword, ejecting a slow moving stream of energy slithering across the ground."Perhaps, it's not a subject of which you should be reminded."

The heat from Baksaiga's energy incinerated the skeletal remains at the feet of the roses into ashes which got swept away by the vanishing tail of the energy stream.

The lady stood up.

After retreating to a short distance from Sesshomaru, she raised her head slowly, revealing a face darkened by a vengeful shadow in her eyes.

"You shall respect the resting place of my ancestor."

Stretching her arms forward with fingertips pointing at Sesshomaru, she sent a shower of small lotus petals which coalesced into fibrous tendrils whipping wildly across the air towards him.

Sesshomaru stood still, directly taking several hits before he withdrew to a safe distance.

Glancing at the gashes on his body and feeling the slightly burning sensation from them, he sheathed his sword and ascended into the air.

"Perhaps, you should respect the resting place of your ancestors by keeping it clean," said Sesshomaru as he glided away from the garden.

The sound of her voice reverberated after him. "I leave the bones of those greedy souls paving his grave, so he can witness that there's no true love existing in this pathetic world."

As if gone mad after the completion of her sentence, the lady produced numerous lotus tendrils, whizzing through the air, lashing out in chaotic directions, like the arms of an injured octopus waving wildly around itself. Petals, being ripped away by the force of her turmoil, churned frenziedly like dandelion seeds blowing in a wind blast.

...


	16. Uekya's Wish

**A/N: Last chapter:** Sesshomaru meets Hasu in the rose garden of Uekya's grave. Hasu suggests Sesshomaru should pick a rose for Rin because the rose could possibly give Rin a long life.

To sorrellKaren: thank you so much for the review.

* * *

 **Chapter 16: Uekya's Wish**

Sesshomaru left the rose garden, eager for more information, but dealing with an apparent psycho lady was not much of an interest. And whether or not he could trust her words was a whole other aspect of that exchange.

Sesshomaru landed in front of his father's old friend. That friend was so old and wise he would be the embodiment of knowledge, ancient or afresh.

"Oh, Sesshomaru, what curiosity brought you to see me?" The deep resounding voice of Bokuseno greeted Sesshomaru.

"Bokuseno, perhaps you have heard the name of Uekya," asked Sesshomaru in his straightforward fashion, wasting no time for a needless greeting, but standing with his head slightly bowed, showing respect.

"Uekya-sama." Bokuseno took some time for reflection, lowering his eyes as if he was in mourning. "Uekya-sama was a great tree demon, the guardian of our kind."

"What was his story?"

"Like your father, he fell in love with a human, Aikabara, the princess of the Rose City. Many conflicts arose between them. When he finally had Aikabara by his side, her body had become old and brittle, plagued by old age. He transfused his blood into her in order to make her become immortal."

"Did he succeed?"

"He succeeded in making her a hanyou which would have given her a long life. However, it was too late. Even for the hanyou she had become, her body had already been plagued by old age, and she would eventually succumb to death soon after."

"So, if father had transfused his blood into Izayoi, she would have lived an unnatural long life like that of Inuyasha's?"

"Technically, Yes. However, unlike your father in one aspect, Uekya-sama was far more gentle. He dealt no judgement on any beings whether they were demons or humans, bad or good. He resided in the tranquility of the forest and left the world to its own proliferation and decay. The power in Uekya's blood was encompassing, gentle towards all."

"Hmph."

"Your father, as honorable as he was, was a warrior. Therefore, even his son, Inuyasha, could not overcome the aggressive instinct of your father's blood when being confronted with dangers without the protection of the Tetsaiga. Being a mere weak mortal, if Izayoi received your father's blood, she would undoubtedly become a mad demon on a killing rampage until her death."

"I see." Sesshomaru twitched internally at that piece of information.

"When Aikabara parted from this world, Uekya-sama, unable to deal with a life without her, sacrificed his heart, leaving the world an eternal wish before his death."

"What was his wish?"

"From his blood sprung up a garden of roses. If a couple of lovers with an unconditional and true love should pick a rose together, they would be bestowed by his power with the lifespan as long as his would be, in honor of Aikabara's short lifespan."

Sesshomaru's muscles stirred with light tremors. His eyes glistened.

"However, it was a curse more than a gift to the world."

"How so?"

"If anyone without the true unconditonal love defined by Uekya, whatever definition he had given it, ventured into the garden with the intention of plucking the benefit of having a long life will be poisoned by the sap from the rose and perish instantly."

"Has anyone ever succeeded?"

"For hundreds of years, nobody came out alive from that garden. Perhaps for that reason, it had been sealed off by a barrier and forgotten through time."

"I see."

After receiving the knowledge from Bokuseno, Sesshomaru meandered along the footpath back to Kaede's village, allowing some peaceful time away from the gang and the noise from his loud Jaken to think.

It might have been the answer Sesshomaru had been looking for. Bokuseno could be trusted.

True love. Unconditional love.

What would that be?

He barely understood the simple "love" and had only named his feelings for Rin as love by imitating his mother's opinion on it.

And Rin. The image of of her smiling in Kohaku's arms had not faded.

The attraction between Sesshomaru and Rin was undeniable. But the true love defined by some tree demon who seemed elusive might be too verdantly convoluted.

Nobody had come out of that garden alive.

Sesshomaru arrived at Kaede's in mid evening.

Inuyasha and Kagome sat in their front yard around a small bonfire, eating their dinner as always.

Rin, Kaede, and Jaken were inside judging by their scent.

Sesshomaru halted just a few feet from Inuyasha.

"Oh, hi big brother." The familiar sound of the somewhat pleasant aggravation hit Sesshomaru's ears as the bright eyes of that sound's source hit his eyes.

"Kagome, aren't you gonna invite Sesshomaru to your dinner's plate?"

"Oh, yeah. But it's impolite to invite someone to your plate after you've been eating out of it, Inuyasha," said Kagome earnestly. "Here, hold this." Kagome handed Inuyasha her plate. She stood up. "Let me go inside to make him another one."

After Kagome disappeared behind the door, Sesshomaru sat down in a lotus pose on the other side of the bonfire, facing Inuyasha.

After gazing fixedly at Inuyasha for some time, Sesshomaru sought an answer. "Do you keep the image of that dead miko in your memory, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha looked at Sesshomaru with wild eyes, questioning Sesshomaru's sanity. "What?! You're wanting to make small talks?"

In all the years he had lived, and ironically, the only people Sesshomaru had established a good enough relationship with for small talks in order to understand love were his former most hated enemies - the younger brother and the gang.

So, unbelievably even to himself, Sesshomaru said, "Yes, Inuyasha."

"What?!"

Sesshomaru was motionless.

"Alright, if you wanna know that bad. I do keep Kikyou in my memory. You can't just forget someone that you love that much. Even you can't do it, Sesshomaru. You keep harping about father all the time."

"If you have Kikyou in your mind, would the love you have for Kagome be considered true love?" asked Sesshomaru.

"SIT!"

Inuyasha plunged forward into the ground, his face on his dinner plate.

Sesshomaru dashed with the speed of shadow to the other end of the yard. He, caught by surprise, shuddered at the sound of "sit" from Kagome even though he was unaffected.

"Sesshomaru, just for your information, I don't like to be reminded of Kikyou." Kagome pointed at Sesshomaru, her other hand propping against her hip, eyes glaring like fireworks.

"Why youu!"

"SIT!"

"Arghh!" Inuyasha was effectively silenced by the second "sit" after his head got buried farther into the ground.

"You're going to pay for this, Sesshomaru." Kagome was on a rampage.

Sesshomaru left in a hurry by means of a white ball zipping away, leaving Inuyasha to his punishment. Sesshomaru was not going to stay around for that even though he might have been the cause of it.

...


	17. Unexpected Ally

**A/N: Last chapter:** Sesshomaru learns about Uekya's wish, granting humans the lifespan as long as a demon if a human couple pick a rose from Uekya's garden with true love in their hearts. However, nobody has succeeded in achieving that fete yet. Sesshomaru makes Kagome mad because he reminds Inuyasha of Kikyou.

to sorrellKaren: Thank you so much for your review. You keep me going. Thank you.

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Unexpected Ally.  
**

Leaving Kagome and Inuyasha to their brawl, Sesshomaru went to the woods, to the spot where he saw the garden of lotus some nights ago during his flight from Rin's seductiveness.

If Inuyasha still remembered Kikyou, could Inuyasha's love for Kagome pass as true love. Could Inuyasha be able to prolong Kagome's life by Uekya's roses.

Could the spell of Uekya's roses be trusted.

Sesshomaru would test it using into his brother since he had seen how Inuyasha and Kagome had risked their life for each other. But with Kikyou in mind, the knowledge would be kept from Inuyasha for the time being to prevent Inuyasha from the possibly fatal temptation.

Sesshomaru stood, gazing at the lotuses.

Their origin was from the lady in the rose garden as the scent from her power was the same. The lady, unknown to him, had been watching him perhaps. How else would she know he had feelings for a human. Perhaps, the gleam she sent into his eyes was not to immobilize him, but to read his thoughts. And he, being off guard, had revealed some thoughts to her inadvertently.

Whatever the method she used, the lady had caught his interest. Though her power was weak, she was worthy of cautionary measure.

He came back to their village at nightfall. Inuyasha and Kagome seemed to have worked out their problem and were sitting with Miroku and Sango while the kids were running for a game of tag with Jaken.

Sesshomaru started to walk into the house when Rin flew with Ah-Un's over the roof from the backyard.

He immediately followed.

Making his way toward Ah-Un's side, he asked, "Rin. Where are you going at this hour of the night?"

"Sesshomaru-sama, the Phoenix statues, they're being taken away I think. All their symbols on the map had faded but one. I'm going there."

"Rin, for what?"

"I don't know, I must warn the bat demons. I must do something."

"Rin, go back."

"No, we've got to do something, Sesshomaru-sama."

He became quiet and followed the adamant girl who had apparently just engaged herself into another life saving mission, and he must come with her to save her from it.

Sesshomaru and Rin arrived at a blue barrier that was slowly dissolving in front of them.

Facing them was Takashi with his Meido Staff gripped tight in his hand. Looking at Sesshomaru with a dark glare, Takashi smirked.

Two bat demons were flapping in the air above the altar that held a blue baby Phoenix statue, with their arrows raised in their hands, ready to shoot.

Sesshomaru stood, nonchalant. "Leave, Takashi."

"So, you even know my name. I must be well known."

"Hardly."

"In that case, let's make it known."

Takashi swung his staff, dispatching 5 huge meidos covering a wide range of space, all heading towards Sesshomaru.

Ah-Un zipped upwards and backwards away from the battle perimeter.

The bats demons flapped to the side to get out of the meidos' paths, both shooting arrows into the meidos, with no effect. They flapped farther out of sight.

Sesshomaru leapt in zigzagging pattern dodging the meidos.

When Sesshomaru appeared from behind the last meido, Takashi jumped up and punched Sesshomaru's face, sending him teetering to the ground and barely missing the meido from sweeping him away.

Sesshomaru sprang up, only to cower down on his knees again from the pains his mother had caused him. Only she could heal the wounds, not even time could erase them. And it exaggerated when his body exerted any force.

Takashi landed in front of Sesshomaru. "You're wounded, Sesshomaru." He raised his staff. "Very good then. Let me finish it for you."

Sesshomaru flipped backwards and landed in a crouch. He pulled out his sword.

Takashi landed in front of him. "Running away?"

Takashi stooped down to grab Sesshomaru's neck but immediately jumped back when Sesshomaru swiped across Takashi's arms with his claws.

The more Sesshomaru exerted force, the more pain shot out from the wounds to all parts of his body, crippling him. Painful shockwaves in his head pulsated, blinding him.

The pain from the mother was to ensure their children's inability to fight back. Knowing that much, Sesshomaru bore the wounds and didn't let his mother heal him to prevent himself from transforming since the process required an assembly of certain energy from his body.

' _Curse it.'_

It was backfiring on him at the moment.

Landing back a few feet away from Sesshomaru, Takashi chuckled. "Who could have inflicted such pain on our Great Inu Demon?"

Takashi blasted a stream of energy from the end of his staff squarely into Sesshomaru's chest, sending the latter flying backward.

Sesshomaru could not muster his energy to break free from the jet of energy that was pushing on his body.

Ah-Un and Rin swooshed down. Reaching out a hand, Rin tried to grab Sesshomaru.

"Wah, how sweet. Let me send all of you to the underworld once and for all."

Takashi dispatched multiple meidos in the group's direction.

Rin was unfazed, determined to pull Sesshomaru out of the way. Unable to achieve the fete, Rin urged Ah-Un to jump in front of Sesshomaru, hoping to shield Sesshomaru from the approaching meidos.

When a meido was at a hair distance from Rin, a white shimmery shadow flashed across the meido's path, catching Rin and Ah-Un and flinging them out of the way into a far distance, away from danger.

The white shadow zipped back for Sesshomaru and carried him away, just in time when the meidos arrived at the point where they would have swallowed the whole group.

Sesshomaru, forcefully exerting all of his energy, had conjured up nothing but the accumulation of excruciating pain, like thousands of sharp blades rushing through his bloodstream, shearing the flesh and bones all over his body. Catching a quick glimpse of the white figure resembling the lady in the rose garden who was carrying him away from the meidos by holding onto his hand, he slowly slipped into unconsciousness from the crippling pain.

...


	18. Needs

**A/N: Last chapter:** Sesshomaru and Rin go to the last site of the baby Phoenix statue and meet Takashi there. Sesshomaru is unable to fight Takashi because of his pain from the wounds. Hasu rescued Sesshomaru and Rin from Takashi's meidos. Sesshomaru loses consciousness.

* * *

 **Chapter 18: Needs  
**

Sesshomaru woke up in the same scented paradise that he had recently been in rather often.

He sprang straight up. ' _Rin.'_

"Rin."

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama." Rin sat by Sesshomaru's side at the edge of the bed.

She flopped into his chest immediately, sobbing, "I'm sorry, Sesshomaru-sama. I cause you nothing but troubles."

"Rin, you are alright."

"Yes, but—"

"Rin, you don't cause me any troubles."

She snuggled her face deeper into his chest. "But your swords are all gone, both of them."

' _What?'_

"Somebody pulled me away from the meido and threw me far off from you. When I came back, everything was gone. The Phoenix statue and your swords. Fortunately, you were still there."

Her tears dampened his chest. "I'm sorry, Sesshomaru-sama. I'm so sorry."

"Rin. You're the most important to me."

Rin held him and wouldn't let go. He stayed still for a moment before he scooped her up onto his lap, with her back leaning against his body.

She was still crying, sobbing occasionally.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he whispered in her ears, "Be at ease, Rin."

"Your wounds from your mother, they don't go away. Why don't you heal them, Sesshomaru -sama?"

"I cannot heal the wounds from my mother when she disciplines me, Rin."

"It's interesting how you still receive discipline from your mother being all grown."

He stayed quiet. He took a tendril of Rin's hair in between his lips and started to play with it, pulling on it, rolling his tongue around it, tickling Rin's face with it.

He was being just as innocent as Rin, like there wasn't anything wrong with the situation of being swordless.

Rin giggled. "I see why your mother disciplined you. You're just a playful mischievous puppy."

His eyes lit up, tickled by her endearing term - "puppy". He had been called bastard, idiot, imbecile and maybe some other more decorative names, but never puppy.

Nibbling her ears, like a puppy, he whispered, "Rin, I will tell you why mother disciplined me, so you'll understand why I left abruptly when I kissed you the other night."

"Yes?" Her gone went up.

"Because I cannot control my first arousal. It's in my blood to transform me into my full form and to only mate another Inu Demon to ensure our heir retain the perfected dog form."

"Oh." Her tone dropped low down.

"I would have killed you if I had forced our union. That's why I left abruptly every time."

"Oh." Her tone dropped past the ground.

"Rin, only for the first time, then I could control myself."

"OK." Her tone rose a little.

"Mother inflicted these wounds to stop me from killing the person I love."

"But you can't fight because of those wounds. I rather die than put you in the situation like last night."

"Don't say such silly things, Rin. If you die, I won't remember you."

"What?!"

His hands wanted to wander up her bosom, but he held back, afraid of the arousal and having to leave her side.

"Because I will die along with you."

Rin turned around. She put her hand on his lips to stop him from, "Don't say such silly things, Sesshomaru-sama."

"Puppy."

"What?"

"I like puppy."

"What? You said we can't, uhm," Said Rin as she looked at him with her bashful eyes, "do that yet, Sesshomaru-sama."

"No, call me puppy."

"Oh. You silly puppy." Rin pounded his chest gently. "Sesshomaru-sama."

He grinned when she said "puppy", then pouted when she added "Sesshomaru-sama".

"I've got to go to the garden. And I have to stop by Aika-sama to tend to her garden."

"Aika-sama?"

"Yes, you remember her, don't you? Our village teacher. She told me to send Gozu and Mezu to class. In exchange, I have to care for her flower garden."

"Allow me to come with you."

On their flight to the garden, he asked if Rin had taken the kids to class. Rin told him Kagome did that for her in the morning already since Rin wanted to stay by his side.

That night, Sesshomaru sat down on the edge of the bed next to Rin.

Thinking about anything else beside obtaining power was a surprise. Since Rin's second death, however, his priority had changed. Obtaining power had moved down a few notches on the priority ladder.

It was just like anything else, anyone else. When one is introduced to something good, they start craving for it.

Rin had introduced Sesshomaru to so many things new and exciting, he had started to wish for them, to have hunger for them, to want to protect them - like her smile.

He looked at Rin.

She was sound asleep.

Her bosom rose and fell in rhythm with her breathing. The flap of her nightgown falling to her side, revealing the upper part of her thighs, barely hiding what lay beyond. Her skin was smooth; her lips were rosy; her hair lusciously spread around her.

Gazing at her, the cells in his body started to spin like there were tiny butterflies flapping their wings frenziedly through his blood. The passionate feeling of the night in the sakura came back full force - just by looking at her. The sounds of her soft moans rang in his ears; the seductive scent of her desire stirred in his memory.

The taste, the full taste, of her arousal would be heaven.

His heart pulsed faster; his mind went in a daze; yearning churned inside his flesh. His breathing became longer and heavier, trying to compensate for the stifling fervor filling up his chest.

The unfulfilled desire those recent days had been jabbing at the core of his physical being. The possibility of him never being able to fulfill it had paralyzed his mind, to the point of hopelessness, threatening to push him over the threshold to the territory of carnal impulse.

Making love to another female besides Rin would not be an option, not only for the virtuous loyalty he kept for Rin, but also his inability to fill his mind with an image of any other females besides Rin. He wanted to stay untouched, stay perfect for Rin, the girl who had a commanding grip on his heart and an authoritative hold of his mind.

Reaching out, he placed his hand gently on Rin's hand. He lowered his lips towards hers. The anticipation of Rin's warmth when he entered her excited his body and weakened his mind. Closing his eyes, he halted, taking in her seductive scent before he moved forward.

It would be that night. It was going to happen. And if Rin died, he would die along with her. They should live out their desire even if just for once instead of living with an unfulfilled desire for the rest of eternity.

Listening to the whispers of his carnal command, he would not turn back this time.

Live it.

Suddenly, like madness, he withdrew, sighing a heavy sigh. Despite the unbearable desire that he could almost no longer bear, nothing was worth the cost of Rin's life.

Sesshomaru lay down beside Rin, making the movement with meticulously slow motion, fearing that any stirring would awaken her.

His need would have to wait.


	19. Hasu's Scheme

**A/N. Last chapter:** Sesshomaru finds out he has lost both of his swords.

To sorrellkaren, I thank you so much for your patience with my story. You have kept me going when I went through my moments of discouraging thoughts. Thank you.

to 677: Thank you so much also for the encouragement. Your reviews keep us, SessRin authors, going. Your English is fine. I think you should not hesitate to leave longer messages. Thank you so much.

to Jcat007: Thank you so much for your encouraging comment. I do hope that you did go on to read chapter 2 though. I hope it didn't bore you to death. But if it did, will you please tell me why, so I can fix it.

to SpiritedRanger: Yes, the lady in the rose garden is Aika/Hasu. She has her reason why she rescues them. This chapter will answer it. And yes, 'puppy' would be what mother would call him, though I didn't put that in the story though, I hope the readers would imagine that scene. :D.

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 **Chapter 19: Hasu's Scheme**

On the preferred boulder at Hasu's lake, Takashi stood, his arms crossed. Eyebrows knitting on top of his grimace, his silence spoke volumes.

"Takashi, wipe that off your face," said Hasu, chuckling endearingly.

Her open arms spun around, swirling the water, sending ripples rolling outwards. "You have Sesshomaru's swords in safe keeping?"

"I have them hidden, guarded by my most faithful orge."

"Why didn't you destroy them?"

"I've tried. The swords wouldn't budge. Sending them into the underworld is too risky."

"I see. That was easy. I had overestimated Sesshomaru's power." Hasu chuckled girlishly.

"He was already wounded. If not, we had no chance."

"Oh?! By who?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

Scooping up water with one hand, Hasu poured it over her shoulders. Tilting her head slightly to the side, she smiled at her warping reflection on the disturbed water surface.

"Why did you rescue him from my Meido, Hasu-sama? Sesshomaru is powerful. We should kill him swiftly when there's a chance."

"Sending him to the underworld might not guarantee his death. If his mother has the Meido Stone which I presume, she could open a path for him. Also, those two must live a little longer to play their parts in my scheme to unlock my power. If I succeed, Sesshomaru is but a toy inside my palms. Then, Takashi, he'll be all yours to play with. Make his death slow and miserable if you want to." Hasu chuckled.

"Have it your way."

"Besides, only Sesshomaru can lure his mother out. You'll need that Meido Stone. The Inu brothers is not the only bump in your path to rule over the humans."

"Hm."

Takashi leapt away, leaving Hasu to her nightly bath.

Once finished, Hasu rose from the water, nude.

Above the lake surface, a platform of petals welcomed her lithe steps. She hummed a sentimental love tune, her silky voice pervading the air. Her robe slowly draped downwards from her shoulders. A shimmery aura materialized, swaying lazily behind her.

Hasu glanced back and upwards.

The man, standing in the shadow of the trees on the mountain, was watching her.

He had been watching her for several nights.

Like flies sensing honey, the humans had come for the Phoenix statues, sooner than expected. Words traveled fast; nonetheless, Hasu was ready - the sooner the better for the needed progression of her plan.

All she had to do was to pretend defeat, giving away the Phoenix statues, putting them in circulation, free for the humans to grab.

The man, however, had not made one move.

Slowly, she stepped onto her lotus staircase, her mind churning - how to invoke the motionless man into action.

Suddenly, swifts of shadow swooped down behind her.

"She demon, give up your Phoenix statues," a man said.

Turning around, spotting a horizontal line of three masked human ninjas with swords ready in hands, Hasu shrugged her shoulders.

Sparks of lights glared from her eyes.

Being challenged, the ninjas stared back at her, unknowingly. They became rigid, immobile.

"Hmph, if you want them, come and get them, if you can that is," said Hasu.

Three tendrils of woven lotus petals shot forwards from Hasu's hands, making their way for the ninjas.

By some force, too quick for the eyes, the tendrils suddenly turned their paths back at Hasu.

She flipped backwards landing safely on her petal cloud.

During the flip, a red Phoenix statue fell out from her sleeve, flying towards the middle ninja, hitting his head, effectively waking him up from the dazing spell.

The ninja caught the statue. He then knocked his two comrades on their heads to wake them up. Together, the three ninjas leapt away. "We got the statue, leaving her to you."

The ninjas were speaking to the man, the spy who had been watching Hasu from the shadow. At the moment, he was standing in front of her.

Crossing his arms, smirking, he said, "Must be some valuable relic you have there. Pardon me, you had there."

"Hm, you're with those three men. How clever." Hasu rested her arms behind her back, a friendly gesture for the unwelcome guest.

"I have no association with them. It's you who is of my interest."

' _He's not here for the statues?'_

Hasu narrowed her eyes, sparks of bright lights flickered behind her lenses.

The man turned sideways. Undoing the sash around his ponytail, he used it to blindfold himself. "Better be safe. Those bewitching eyes of yours could become a nuisance."

"You're going to fight me in the dark?"

"No. I'm going to kill you in the dark," said the blindfolded man.

Hasu's glare darkened. "Who are you? And why do you want to kill me?"

"I'm Kohaku. I have been commissioned to take your life."

"A demon slayer, hah? Do not make me laugh."

A madness bunch of lotus tendrils flung forwards, whipping fiercely.

Kohaku leapt upwards and forwards, dodging the paths of the tendrils. Landing behind Hasu, he sent his sickle to the airspace under her feet. It split into three upward moving prongs, encasing her body, their sharp ends curving inward, all in position to spear her chest.

"Hmph."

Hasu slipped her dissipating body out from the wide gap between the sickle prongs, reforming in the air.

She chuckled, but stopped abruptly when a myriad of tiny sharp tongues sprang out from Kohaku's sickle, forming a thick case surrounding her body, leaving only a very small opening right at their level of her chest.

The end of a sword quickly closed the hole, plunging its sharp end into her chest.

Unable to escape the sickle case, she mustered all her power to push back the sword, preventing it from piercing her heart.

Kokaku was too powerful. His sword must have been made with some powerful demon's bone. She had underestimated him.

The wall of Hasu's power abruptly shattered. The sword pulsated forwards, pricking a tiny hole on her heart.

Hasu yelped in pain. ' _It cannot be. I cannot die by a human's hand.'_

She wasn't the most powerful demon, but she could at least escape from a human.

This human - was too skillful for her.

Unable to resist Kohaku's strength, the image of Uekya-sama flashed into her mind.

 _ **Hasu transformed into her true form and hid among the lotuses in her garden during a game of hide and seek. Uekya's hand caressed the petals of a lotus gently, a loving smile spreading his lips, "My lovely Hasu, it looks like I've found you. Come on out, the butterflies are waiting to play with you."**_

Kohaku's sword inched deeper. Perhaps, she was finally going to reunite with Uekya-sama.

Hasu closed her eyes, smiling. ' _Uekya-sama, I love you, and I'm sorry.'_

"Arghh!" Hasu yelped from the backwards slicing of the sword blade, yanking away from her chest.

The sickle case retreated, folding on itself into one blade, its attaching chain pulling it back toward its wielder.

Hasu widened her eyes. ' _Why?'_

"Why didn't you kill me when you had the chance. You won't get a second chance."

Tendrils dispatched from her hand, whipping furiously in chaotic patterns towards Kohaku, to no effect to Kohaku's agility.

Leaping through the air, Kohaku halted when he was within arm reach from Hasu. Stretching out a hand, he cupped Hasu's cheek.

Hasu recoiled from Kohaku's hand.

After undoing his blindfold, Kohaku gazed deep into Hasu's eyes with a glint of curiosity. One end of his lips turned up, his face glossed with gallantry. "I'm trained as a demon slayer because there are demons I would gladly destroy with no regrets. However, there had been great demons who had saved me, protected me, fought for me when I needed most. I forever appreciate them."

"Hmph. Doubtful. The human is an unappreciative and greedy race."

"Is that so."

A moment of silence ensued.

"Kohaku. My name is Hasu." From her sleeve, Hasu produced a Phoenix statue and handed it to Kohaku. "It's a gift for sparing my life."

"Hum." Kohaku turned the relic round and back, inspecting it, eyes smiling like a kid with a new toy. "My lovely Hasu, I'll keep it safe."

Launching a long rope, latching it around a tree high on the mountain, Kohaku swung out of Hasu's eye reach.

' _My lovely Hasu?!'_

Hasu smirked. Lovely? The only person who had called her so was Uekya-sama. The only person she had ever been lovely to was Uekya-sama.

No one else.

The gift she just gave Kohaku was his death sentence.

For the next several nights, warriors, ninjas, mikos, demons slayers came to challenge Hasu for the remaining Phoenix statues.

Hasu surrendered all the statues to them.

As they should be.

...


End file.
